Effectuating nature-based wildfire resilience and watershed health interventions involves lands that cross many types of jurisdictional boundaries, and a wide variety of stakeholders, e.g., water managers, forest managers, watershed and community groups, conservation organizations, and academic institutions. Success in this multifaceted ecosystem requires strong partnerships between water providers, forest managers, community groups, watershed organizations, and other stakeholders.

The sections below explore key partners for building nature-based resilience. These sections also highlight the Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed as an example of a successful partnership advancing nature-based solutions.

Key Partners for Building Nature-Based Resilience

Key partners in developing and implementing nature-based wildfire and watershed health interventions include:

  • Public Agencies
    • U.S. Forest Service
    • Colorado State Agencies
      • Forest Service
      • Department of Parks and Wildlife
      • Department of Natural Resources
      • Colorado Water Conservation Board
    • Neighboring Water Providers
    • Watershed Groups
    • Workforce Development NGOs
      • Rocky Mountain Conservation Corp
      • Colorado Youth Corps Association
      • Southwest Conservation Corps
    • Academics
    • Private Property Owners in the relevant watershed areas

Partnering with federal and state forest managers is often an essential first step, since most forested watershed land is owned by the federal and state government. Working with these agencies can be a pathway for Colorado water providers to gain access forested land to implement nature-based solutions and can be an important way to co-fund these investments. For example, the City of Greeley, Colorado, has a “Participating Agreement” with the United States Department of Agriculture and U.S. Forest Service to implement watershed recovery and restoration projects in the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests as well as the Pawnee National Grassland areas affected by the Cameron Peak Fire. This agreement authorizes Greeley to install nature-based wildfire recovery and resilience projects on federally owned land. It also establishes that Greeley and its federal partners will share in the cost of implementing these projects.

Connecting with private property owners can similarly give water providers access to private lands where nature-based resilience interventions need to be implemented; private property owners are also key partners because having their support for selected intervention types, e.g., thinning or prescribed fire, can help navigate implementation challenges. Building relationships with private property owners will likely involve a variety of engagement strategies and approaches, such as:

  • Watershed tours
  • Community meetings
  • Open houses
  • Individual landowner or business meetings
  • Targeted mailers to property owners in priority areas
  • Attending Homeowners Association meetings
  • Free property assessments by a local forester

Private property owners in forested watershed areas may include residential properties, commercial timber harvesters, or recreational properties, e.g., camp or ski resorts. These private properties encompass only a small portion of watershed land, however. Most watershed land is owned by federal or state agencies.

Neighboring water providers are also key partners because watersheds often provide water to more than one municipality or district; working together on resilience interventions leverages shared resources to meet shared goals.

Colorado’s watershed groups provide important avenues for convening and organizing the various stakeholders. For example, Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed is a partnership between landowners, government land management agencies, water utilities, and non-profits working to address wildfire and other challenges in the Poudre River watershed. Through this partnership the Coalition supports watershed-scale resilience planning, project prioritization, stakeholder outreach, and project implementation. Read more about Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed below.

Other key project implementers are workforce development organizations, e.g., the Rocky Mountain Conservation Corp, that provide essential on-the-ground staff to install nature-based interventions. To help grow this crucial industry, the Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program, administered by the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, awards Workforce Development Grants that can cover crew time and/or direct funds. The objective of these grants is to develop a pipeline of individuals entering Colorado’s mitigation and forestry workforce, and complete resilience projects. Read more about the workforce development program here.

Academic institutions can provide needed research, analysis, and education to help water providers make the case for nature-based investments. For example, Colorado State University is a leader on wildfire and watershed health research.

Case Study - Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed

The Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed’s (CPRW) mission is to improve and maintain the ecological health of the Poudre River Watershed through community collaboration. CPRW began in 2012 as an informal collaborative in response to the post-fire restoration needs following the High Park and Hewlett Gulch wildfires which burned close to 90,000 acres in the watershed. CPRW established as a 501c3 nonprofit in May 2013.

CPRW collaborates closely with various stakeholders and partners across the watershed including the US Forest Service, Colorado State Forest Service, the City of Fort Collins and City of Greeley, Larimer County, researchers, private landowners and other nonprofits.

CPRW works across the entire Poudre Watershed—from headwaters to the confluence with the South Platte River—on issues relating to watershed and forest resilience, rivers, science and monitoring, and post-fire restoration.

CPRW and their partners work to identify the watershed’s biggest problems, use science and expert input to prioritize where projects will have the most impact and then collaboratively implements actions on the ground that will protect our rivers, communities, and water supply.

Among these projects, CPRW has been focused on restoring the watershed after the 2020 Cameron Peak Fire burned over 200,000 acres in the watershed. With the US Forest Service and the City of Greeley, they have implemented nature-based interventions including aerial mulching, point-based mitigation, and reforestation. These interventions were selected because they can, e.g., reduce sedimentation, protect water quality, and protect downstream infrastructure. The coalition also conducts essential watershed and fire resilience planning. These plans include the Upper Poudre Watershed Resilience Plan (2024), the Lower Poudre River Watershed Resilience Plan (2017), and a 5-year strategic plan with a 50-year vision for the watershed.

The coalition’s work is funded in a number of ways. CPRW receives federal, state and local grants, private donations, as well as sponsorship from local businesses. Local water providers, such as Greeley and Fort Collins, contribute matching funds for project implementation. By serving as a centralized organization that can accept and manage these various funding sources, CPRW plays an important role in funding nature-based resilience interventions. The partnership provides a pathway for leveraging a portfolio of federal, state, and local dollars in a way that may not otherwise be possible.

Explore the Financing Pathways section to learn more about financing options available to Colorado water providers. As detailed in that section, water providers have the option to expand their investments in collaborative projects like those implemented by Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed by financing those investments with municipal bonds or State Revolving Fund loans.