Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program
The Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program (COSWAP) was created after the devastating 2020 fire season by the Colorado legislature through the bi-partisan supported SB21-258 in the summer of 2021. COSWAP is designed to quickly move $17.5 million state stimulus dollars to start on-the-ground work on fuels reduction projects and increase Colorado's capacity to conduct critical forest restoration and wildfire mitigation work that will increase community resilience and protect life, property and infrastructure.
COSWAP supports fuels reduction efforts in the wildland urban interface (WUI) in two ways. First, by funding wildfire mitigation work done by conservation corps and the Department of Corrections (DOC) State Wildland Inmate Fire Teams (SWIFT), and wildfire mitigation workforce development training. Second, by strategically awarding funds for landscape scale strategic wildfire mitigation projects.
“The Department of Natural Resources shall prioritize those projects with the greatest potential to protect life, property, and infrastructure.” SB21-258
Workforce Development Grant
The COSWAP Workforce Development Grant awards two forms of grants. Crew time awards are granted to applicants with wildfire mitigation projects that protect life, property and infrastructure. SWIFT or CYCA accredited conservation corps crews are paid by COSWAP directly to complete the projects. Cash grants are awarded for workforce development fire mitigation training or to pay a non-CYCA accredited conservation corps to complete a mitigation project.
The 2022 funding cycle for COSWAP Workforce Development Grants is closed, stay tuned for information on the next funding cycle. The 2022 Application and Request for Applications are available for your reference below. Sign up for COSWAP news to be notified when the next funding cycle opens.
Department of Corrections (DOC) State Wildland Inmate Fire Teams (SWIFT)
COSWAP is partnering with DOC SWIFT crews to execute wildfire mitigation projects from 6–25 weeks.
Geographic Scope: Statewide
Eligible applicants:
- Federal agencies
- State agencies (DNR divisions contact courtney.young@state.co.us for separate application)
- Local governments including counties, municipalities, fire protection districts and other special districts
- Tribes
- Public utilities with infrastructure or land ownership in areas of high wildfire risk
- Registered homeowner associations, property owners associations, formal neighborhood associations and road districts
- Wildfire Councils and/or wildfire, watershed or forest collaborative groups
- Non-profit organizations that promote fuel reduction projects, are engaged in prescribed fire projects, or natural resource management
Match: Applicants must provide in-kind match in the form of project management.
Timeline: Projects run through calendar years 2022 and 2023.
CYCA Accredited Conservation Corps
COSWAP is partnering with Colorado Youth Corps Association (CYCA) accredited conservation corps crew time to execute wildfire mitigation projects from 6-25 weeks.
Geographic Scope: Strategic Focus Areas (Rocky Mountain Restoration Initiative focal areas and Boulder, Douglas, El Paso, Jefferson, Larimer, La Plata and Teller counties)
Eligible applicants:
- Federal agencies
- State agencies (DNR divisions contact courtney.young@state.co.us for separate application)
- Local governments including counties, municipalities, fire protection districts and other special districts
- Tribes
- Public utilities with infrastructure or land ownership in areas of high wildfire risk
- Registered homeowner associations, property owners associations, formal neighborhood associations and road districts
- Wildfire Councils and/or wildfire, watershed or forest collaborative groups
- Non-profit organizations that promote fuel reduction projects, are engaged in prescribed fire projects, or natural resource management
Match: Applicants must provide in-kind match in the form of project management.
Timeline: Projects run through calendar years 2022 and 2023.
Non-CYCA Accredited Conservation Corps
COSWAP workforce development grants also support mitigation projects completed by non-CYCA accredited conservation corps.
Geographic Scope: Strategic Focus Areas (Rocky Mountain Restoration Initiative focal areas and Boulder, Douglas, El Paso, Jefferson, Larimer, La Plata and Teller counties)
Eligible applicants:
- Federal agencies
- State agencies (DNR divisions contact courtney.young@state.co.us for separate application)
- Local governments including counties, municipalities, fire protection districts and other special districts
- Tribes
- Public utilities with infrastructure or land ownership in areas of high wildfire risk
- Registered homeowner associations, property owners associations, formal neighborhood associations and road districts
- Wildfire Councils and/or wildfire, watershed or forest collaborative groups
- Non-profit organizations that promote fuel reduction projects, are engaged in prescribed fire projects, or natural resource management
Match: Applicant must provide a 25% in-kind or cash match of the award amount.
Timeline: Projects run through calendar years 2022 and 2023.
Workforce Development Training
COSWAP supports training opportunities for mitigation and prescribed fire, including S130/S190/L180, S212 and Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges (TREX).
Geographic Scope: Trainings must occur in Strategic Focus Areas (Rocky Mountain Restoration Initiative focal areas and Boulder, Douglas, El Paso, Jefferson, Larimer, La Plata and Teller counties)
Eligible applicants:
- Federal agencies
- State agencies (DNR divisions contact courtney.young@state.co.us for separate application)
- Local governments including counties, municipalities, fire protection districts and other special districts
- Tribes
- Public utilities with infrastructure or land ownership in areas of high wildfire risk
- Registered homeowner associations, property owners associations, formal neighborhood associations and road districts
- Wildfire Councils and/or wildfire, watershed or forest collaborative groups
- Non-profit organizations that promote fuel reduction projects, are engaged in prescribed fire projects, or natural resource management
Match: Applicant must provide a 25% in-kind or cash match of the award amount.
Timeline: Trainings are occurring in calendar years 2022 and 2023.
Project name | Awardee | Award type | Award amount | Project Value |
---|---|---|---|---|
Arapahoe Ranch Fuels Reduction Project | Boulder Watershed Collective | CYCA | 10 weeks | $118,000 |
Bailey Evacuation Routes Mitigation | Platte Canyon Fire Protection District | DOC-SWIFT | 16 weeks | $299,856 |
Basalt Shooting Range Hand Thinning | Colorado Parks and Wildlife | DOC-SWIFT | 6 weeks | $64,536 |
Beaver Creek | Colorado Parks and Wildlife | DOC-SWIFT | 3 weeks | $11,215 |
Bergen Peak SWA Fire Mitigation | Colorado Parks and Wildlife | CYCA | 6 weeks | $70,800 |
Berrian Park Mitigation Project | Evergreen Fire Protection District | CYCA | 15 weeks | $177,000 |
Big Elk Meadows Wildfire Mitigation | Volunteer Fire Department of Big Elk | DOC-SWIFT | 10 weeks | $186,258 |
Big Thompson Community Wildfire Mitigation Expansion | Big Thompson Watershed Coalition | CYCA | 18 weeks | $198,000 |
Black Mountain Fire Mitigation | U.S. Forest Service | DOC-SWIFT | 8 weeks | $149,160 |
Bosque del Oso | Colorado Parks and Wildlife | DOC-SWIFT | 3 weeks | $55,647 |
Button Rock | City of Longmont | CYCA | 18 weeks | $212,400 |
Cheyenne Mountain Gambel Oak Thinning | Colorado Parks and Wildlife | CYCA | 8 weeks | $94,400 |
Cub Creek Brook Forest Road Roadside Mitigation | Evergreen Fire Protection District | CYCA | 14 weeks | $165,200 |
Delta Fire Fuels Mitigation | Delta County | DOC-SWIFT | 10 weeks | $108,360 |
Dome Rock | Colorado Parks and Wildlife | DOC-SWIFT | 1 day | $3,120 |
Evergreen Fire Rescue 103 | Evergreen Fire Protection District | DOC-SWIFT | 7 weeks | $129,843 |
Game Trail and Trail West Shaded Fuelbreaks | Colorado Firecamp | CYCA | 25 weeks | $295,000 |
Game Trail and Trail West Shaded Fuelbreaks - Training | Colorado Firecamp | Cash grant for training | $72,208 | $72,208 |
GCWC Fuel Reduction Project | Grand County Wildfire Council | DOC-SWIFT | 22 weeks | $408,846 |
GMUG Prescribed Fire Preparation | U.S. Forest Service | DOC-SWIFT | 6 weeks | $112,446 |
Grand Valley WUI | Colorado Parks and Wildlife | DOC-SWIFT | 10 weeks | $108,360 |
Healthy Forest Project | Town of Green Mountain Falls | CYCA | 15 weeks | $177,000 |
La Plata County Safe Routes | La Plata County | DOC-SWIFT | 10 weeks | $186,258 |
Lake County Community WUI Project (Phase I) | Lake County | DOC-SWIFT | 25 weeks | $463,725 |
Lory State Park- FH7 Extension and FH2 Maintenance | Colorado Parks and Wildlife | CYCA | 18 weeks | $212,400 |
Maintaining Effective Treatments | Jefferson Conservation District | CYCA | 8 weeks | $88,000 |
Maxwell Fuel Reduction | State Land Board | CYCA | 10 weeks | $118,000 |
Mountain Zone – Hazardous Fuels Reduction | U.S. Forest Service | CYCA | 10 weeks | $118,000 |
Mueller State Park- Cheeseman Ranch Area | Colorado Parks and Wildlife | CYCA | 6 weeks | $70,800 |
NoCo TREX | The Ember Alliance | Cash grant for training | $100,000 | $100,000 |
NoFloCo Fire Mitigation Posse Training | Indian Creek Property Owners Association | Cash grant for training | $41,773 | $41,773 |
Pikes Peak State Wildlife Area | Colorado Parks and Wildlife | DOC-SWIFT | 3 weeks | $31,932 |
Protecting Critical Infrastructure in Riparian WUI/ Grand Junction | City of Grand Junction | DOC-SWIFT | 17 weeks | $184,212 |
Railroad Bridge Fuels Reduction & Habitat Improvement Project | National Forest Foundation | CYCA | 18 weeks | $212,400 |
Reduce Fuel Load on La Plata River | Fort Lewis College | CYCA | 10 weeks | $118,000 |
Restoration and Roadside Thinning | Genesee Foundation | CYCA | 8 weeks | $94,400 |
Russian olive removal and fuel reduction-Cherry Creek State Park | Colorado Parks and Wildlife | DOC-SWIFT | 8 weeks | $149,928 |
SCC at Edgemont | La Plata County | CYCA | 8 weeks | $92,100 |
TeamWorks Crescent Meadows Project | TEENS Inc | Cash grant for non-CYCA corps | $100,000 | $100,000 |
Top of Cheyenne Mountain Fuels Mitigation | Colorado Parks and Wildlife | DOC-SWIFT | 7.5 weeks | $140,557 |
Vail Deer Underpass SWA Fuels Reduction & Habitat Treatment | Colorado Parks and Wildlife | DOC-SWIFT | 4 weeks | $42,576 |
2023 Droney Gulch Fuel Reduction Project | State Land Board | DOC-SWIFT | 6 weeks | $65,016 |
Landscape Resilience Investment
Eight projects spread throughout COSWAP’s strategic focus areas have been selected for funding. Projects range from $500,000-$1,000,000 and will be matched by $4 million in local, federal, or other state funding.
- Boulder County: Phase 1: St. Vrain Forest Health Partnership Project, $1,000,000
- Colorado State Forest Service- El Paso County: El Paso County Forest Health and Resilience Project (ECFHRP), $500,000
- Colorado State Forest Service - Teller County: Teller County Forest Health and Resilience Project (TCFHR), $1,000,000
- Jefferson County: Jefferson County Wildfire Safe, $1,000,000
- La Plata County: COSWAP1 Florida Watershed Mitigation Grant, $978,032
- Larimer County: Pole Hill / Waltonia, $1,000,000
- RMRI Upper Arkansas - Chaffee County: Upper Arkansas Thrives - Landscape Level Resilience in Chaffee County, $500,000
- RMRI Southwest Colorado - Mancos Conservation District: RMRI SW Colorado - Northwest Mancos Priority Zone, $1,000,000
- RMRI Upper Arkansas - Lake County: Lake County CWPP Fuels Reduction Project, $500,000
- RMRI Upper South Platte - Jefferson Conservation District: Upper South Platte Landscape Resilience, $1,000,000
Strategic Focus Areas
Strategic Focus Areas include Boulder, Douglas, El Paso, Jefferson, Larimer, La Plata and Teller counties plus Rocky Mountain Restoration Initiative focal areas.
To learn more about the process of identifying Strategic Focus Areas see the White Paper.
Partnerships
The Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program is designed and implemented collaboratively between partners identified in SB21-258. Representatives from the Colorado State Forest Service and the Division of Fire Prevention and Control work with program staff within the Department of Natural Resources to make decisions on program priorities, methods and implementation. The partners implemented a Memorandum of Understanding to guide their coordination.

Frequently Asked Questions
Senate Bill 21-258 (SB21-258) provides one-time state stimulus funding to the Colorado Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to increase the pace and scale of fuels reduction for wildfire risk mitigation across the state to protect life, property and infrastructure. Per statute, DNR is partnering with the Colorado State Forest Service and Division of Fire Prevention and Control to design and implement this program. DNR hired two term employees in September 2021 to lead implementation over the next three years. DNR created the Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program, a unique opportunity that enhances workforce development through the Colorado Youth Corps Association and the Department of Corrections State Wildland Inmate Fire Team crews, and an additional opportunity to focus fuels reduction investments in strategic areas of the state to protect life, property and infrastructure.
The Colorado Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Executive Director’s Office is the primary manager of the Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program. DNR hired two, three year term employees to manage the Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program. Per statute, all decisions are made collaboratively between Colorado State Forest Service, Division of Fire Prevention and Control and DNR in accordance with a memorandum of understanding between the three entities.
The Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program is a one time, special release initiative with the requirement that funds be obligated by June 30, 2023.
SB21-258 called for the U.S. Forest Service to send a National Incident Management Organization (NIMO) Team to Colorado to perform a comprehensive risk analysis to identify the most strategic locations in the state for investments in fuels reduction. Due to the active 2020 fire season a NIMO Team was not available, however Region 2 of the U.S. Forest Service made its fire and fuels experts available. Subject matter experts from the U.S. Forest Service, Colorado State Forest Service, Division of Fire Prevention and Control, Bureau of Land Management, National Parks Service, and the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute at Colorado State University formed the Rapid Fuels Reduction Assessment (RFRA) team to perform the comprehensive risk analysis. Over the summer and fall of 2021 a core team analyzed federal and state risk assessments to determine the most strategic areas for fuels reduction work to guide the current distribution of the Wildfire Mitigation Capacity Development Fund.
Municipal, county, state, state-operated, federal, Tribal, and private lands as applicable to the funding programs offered through the Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program.
COSWAP’s Workforce Development Grant is currently closed for applications. The first funding round was open from February 1, 2022 to May 31, 2022. Stay tuned for information on the next round of grants.
Participation in COSWAP’s Landscape Resilience Investment is by invitation only. DNR coordinated directly with county leadership and Rocky Mountain Restoration Initiative leaders in the Strategic Focus Areas to administer the Landscape Resilience Investment program
All projects must be focused on reducing wildfire risk to property and critical infrastructure. SWIFT and conservation corps projects must be appropriate for hand crew work. This includes, but is not limited to, forest thinning, fuelbreaks, chipping and/or biomass removal. Individual defensible space projects are not eligible. The Landscape Resilience Investment program focuses on cross-boundary hazardous fuel reduction projects, including prescribed fire and planning efforts, that create project connectivity across a landscape to reduce wildfire impacts to communities.
- The Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program takes a targeted approach to reducing wildfire risk in Colorado, where the majority of the funding is focused in seven counties (Larimer, Boulder, Douglas, Jefferson, El Paso, Teller and La Plata) and the Rocky Mountain Restoration Initiative focal areas. COSWAP also has a state level component for the DOC-SWIFT crews. COSWAP is one time funding that needs to be obligated by June 30, 2023 and can be spent on federal, state, state-operated, private municipal, county and tribal land.
- The Forest Restoration and Wildfire Risk Mitigation (FRWRM) program is a statewide competitive grant program through the Colorado State Forest Service. Eligible applicants include local community groups, local government entities such as fire protection districts, public and private utilities, state agencies, and non-profit groups. The grant program supports fuels and forest health projects, and/or capacity building projects.
- Matching contributions for FRWRM may be in the form of private, state or federal support for the project. State funds may be used as match; however, no more than 50 percent of the applicant’s matching funds can come from another state funding source. An exception is made if the applicant is a state agency, where more than 50 percent of matching funds can then come from a state source. Please contact your regional Colorado State Forest Service office for more information.
Supplemental Information
Other Wildfire Mitigation Funding Opportunities
Information about Colorado and wildfire risks to life, property and infrastructure are found on the Colorado State Forest Atlas
Colorado Youth Corps Association
Department of Corrections- SWIFT
Colorado State Forest Service guidelines for fuel breaks
Information on forest products/wood utilization in Colorado (Colorado Wood Utilization and Marketing Program)
Questions
For program questions please contact:
Alison Lerch, Program Administrator: alison.lerch@state.co.us
or Courtney Young, Program Facilitator: courtney.young@state.co.us