Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program
The Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program (COSWAP) is designed to support wildfire risk reduction efforts in Colorado to protect life, property, and infrastructure. COSWAP was created after the devastating 2020 fire season by the Colorado legislature through the bi-partisan supported SB21-258. After a successful grant cycle, the program was permanently funded in the 2023 legislative session. While housed within the Department of Natural Resources, COSWAP was collaboratively designed by representatives from the Colorado State Forest Service and the Division of Fire Prevention and Control. This partnership helps ensure the program aligns with other state work and priorities.
Our Grants
COSWAP supports wildfire risk reduction in Colorado through two programs: Workforce Development Grants and Landscape Resilience Investments. The Workforce Development Grants provide supported, entry-level hands-on experience and training opportunities for individuals interested in wildfire mitigation and forestry. COSWAP’s Landscape Resilience Investments fund collaboratively developed and strategically focused landscape scale fuels reduction projects.
Workforce Development Grant
Workforce Development Grant submissions are closed for 2024.
The COSWAP Workforce Development Grant makes two types of awards: crew time and cash grants. Crew time awards are granted to applicants to implement wildfire mitigation projects that protect life, property and infrastructure. Our crew time partners are the Department of Corrections’ State Wildland Inmate Fire Team (SWIFT) crews and Colorado Youth Corps Association (CYCA) accredited conservation corps crews. The advantage of crew time awards is that our partners are paid by COSWAP directly to reduce administrative burden on the grantee. Alternatively, grantees who wish to work with an independent conservation corps can request a cash grant to hire the corps directly. Workforce development crews are foremost focused on skill development and career exposure. The objective of these partnerships is to develop the pipeline of individuals entering Colorado’s mitigation and forestry workforce; an added benefit is that mitigation work is completed for grantees. Managing mitigation projects can incur additional costs including project management, equipment rentals, and crew support, so applicants may also request a cash grant to cover these expenses. Cash grants are also awarded to groups looking to receive mitigation training, as this is another important part of workforce development.
CYCA Accredited Conservation Corps
COSWAP partners with Colorado Youth Corps Association (CYCA) accredited conservation corps to execute wildfire mitigation projects from 6-25 weeks in duration. When working with a CYCA accredited conservation corps, a grantee will receive a crew time award and DNR will pay for the mitigation work directly.
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
- 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
- 501(c)(3) Non-profit organizations that promote fuel reduction projects, are engaged in prescribed fire projects, or natural resource management including wildfire councils and/or wildfire, watershed, or forest collaborative groups
Match: No match required for crew time award; 25% match required for optional cash grant for project management expenses. Tribal entities are exempt from the match requirement.
Independent Conservation Corps
COSWAP workforce development grants also support mitigation projects completed by independent (non-CYCA accredited) conservation corps. When working with an independent conservation corps, a grantee will receive a cash grant award of up to $200,000.
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
- 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
- 501(c)(3) Non-profit organizations that promote fuel reduction projects, are engaged in prescribed fire projects, or natural resource management including wildfire councils and/or wildfire, watershed, or forest collaborative groups
Match: Applicant must provide a 25% in-kind or cash match of the award amount. Tribal entities are exempt from the match requirement.
Department of Corrections (DOC) State Wildland Inmate Fire Teams (SWIFT)
COSWAP partners with DOC SWIFT crews to execute wildfire mitigation projects from 6–25 weeks in duration. When working with a SWIFT crew, a grantee will receive a crew time award and DNR will pay for the mitigation work directly.
Geographic Scope: Within a three hour drive of Cañon City.
Eligible applicants:
- Federal agencies
- State agencies
- 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
- 501(c)(3) Non-profit organizations that promote fuel reduction projects, are engaged in prescribed fire projects, or natural resource management including wildfire councils and/or wildfire, watershed, or forest collaborative groups
Match: No match required for crew time award; 25% match required for optional cash grant for project management expenses. Tribal entities are exempt from the match requirement.
Workforce Development Training
COSWAP supports basic wildland fire, sawyer, and prescribed fire training opportunities, including (but not limited to):
- S-130/S-190/L-180 Basic Firefighting and Wildland Fire Behavior
- S-212 Wildland Fire Chain Saws
- Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (TREX)
- Fire Department Training Exchange (FDX)
- NFPA Certified Wildfire Mitigation Specialist
- Community Wildfire Mitigation Best Practices (USFS and Coalitions & Collaboratives)
- Building Your FAC Neighborhood Ambassador Approach (FACO and Wildfire Adapted Partnership)
- DFPC's Colorado Certified Burner/ Burn Boss
- Field training for prescription development and treatment implementation
- Advanced tree felling
If you have other mitigation training ideas please contact COSWAP. Grantees will receive a cash grant award up to $100,000 for training.
Geographic Scope: Statewide
Eligible applicants:
- Federal agencies
- State agencies
- 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
- 501(c)(3) Non-profit organizations that promote fuel reduction projects, are engaged in prescribed fire projects, or natural resource management including wildfire councils and/or wildfire, watershed, or forest collaborative groups
Match: Applicant must provide a 25% in-kind or cash match of the award amount. Tribal entities are exempt from the match requirement.
Project Snapshots
Priority Fire Mitigation at Green Mountain Falls
The Mile High Youth Corps worked 15 weeks at Green Mountain Falls completing much needed mitigation on the hillside above the community.
Read the full story on Green Mountain Falls
DOC SWIFT Reduces Fire Risk in Vail
The Department of Correction's SWIFT crews spent four weeks at a State Wildlife Area outside Vail working on fire mitigation.
Pile Burning in Lake County
Lake County worked with the Department of Corrections' SWIFT crews on fuels reduction and pile creation just outside of Leadville, which paved the way for the first ever pile burning event in Lake County in December 2024.
Read the full story on Pile Burning
Youth Corps Contribute to Workforce Development
Landscape Resilience Investment
The Landscape Resilience Investment program focuses on cross-boundary fuels reduction projects that have the greatest potential to protect lives, property, and infrastructure. These investments fund targeted mitigation projects in COSWAP’s strategic focus areas. The projects selected for funding are collaboratively developed to meet the greatest needs of the area and create connectivity across a landscape to reduce wildfire impacts to communities. These projects treat hundreds of acres over the course of their three year award. DNR partners with the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute (CFRI) to monitor the effectiveness of the Landscape Resilience Investment projects. Learn more about the Effectiveness Monitoring Plan on CFRI’s website.
Landscape Resilience Investment - Special Releases
The Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program has partnered with the Colorado Water Conservation Board's Wildfire Ready Watersheds program for a special release of the Landscape Resilience Investment. Through this special release, awardees implement wildfire risk reduction projects that protect critical water infrastructure within high priority watersheds. All recipients of the Landscape Resilience Investment special release are also developing a Wildfire Ready Action Plan to assess the potential impacts of wildfire on community infrastructure, and advance a framework for their community to plan and implement mitigation strategies to minimize these impacts before wildfires do occur. COSWAP's special release leverages a vital partnership to integrate both forest and watershed health.
COSWAP Project Locations
Accommodation Statement: The State of Colorado is committed to providing equitable access to our services to all Coloradans. Please contact Lauren Beecher (lauren.beecher@state.co.us or 720-682-8330) for personalized accessibility assistance using this page, which includes links the map below. We will contact you directly within three business days. Visit our accessibility webpage for more information and services, including AIRA, our free service for blind and low-vision users.
Strategic Focus Areas
The Strategic Focus Areas are one of the components developed by the partnership between the Department of Natural Resources, Colorado State Forest Service, and the Division of Fire Prevention and Control. They represent areas in Colorado where there is a greater population density living within high wildfire risk and areas with regional capacity to make meaningful strategic investments. The 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.
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
Information on forest products/wood utilization in Colorado (Colorado Wood Utilization and Marketing Program)
Frequently Asked Questions
COSWAP’s Workforce Development Grant will open September 9, 2024. All application materials are found on the COSWAP website. Applicants should review the Request for Applications (RFA) before filling out the application. The RFA includes important information on eligibility, timeline, and process. Applications can be submitted via email to COSWAP@state.co.us. Hard copies will not be accepted. The deadline to submit an application to the 2024 COSWAP Workforce Development Grant is November 1, 2024. You should receive an email confirmation of your submission within 1 week.
Participation in COSWAP’s Landscape Resilience Investment is by invitation only. DNR coordinates directly with potential applicants to administer the Landscape Resilience Investment program.
COSWAP funds can be spent on all land ownership types.
All projects must be focused on reducing wildfire risk to life, 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, biomass removal, and pile or broadcast burning. 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 Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Executive Director’s Office is the primary manager of the Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program. Per statute, the Colorado State Forest Service, Division of Fire Prevention and Control and DNR work collaboratively on program design.
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 investment.
There are many funding sources available for wildfire mitigation efforts, including planning, implementation and capacity building. The Forest Restoration & Wildfire Risk Mitigation (FRWRM) grant program administered by the Colorado State Forest Service provides cash for fuels reduction and forest health projects as well as capacity building. FRWRM is a great option for those who have priority projects that must be completed in their entirety and expeditiously within 3 years. The Community Wildfire Defense Grant (CWDG) administered by the US Forest Service provides funding for wildfire planning efforts and wildfire mitigation projects. CWDG is a national program that prioritizes at-risk communities in an area identified as having high or very high wildfire hazard potential, are low-income, or have been impacted by a severe disaster that affects the risk of wildfire. CWDG can grant up to $250,000 for the creation or updating of a Community Wildfire Protection Plan or up to $10 million for a project described within a Community Wildfire Protection Plan less than 10 years old.
The COSWAP workforce development grant uniquely supports the growth of the forestry and mitigation workforce through its focus on youth corps, SWIFT and trainings. COSWAP workforce development crew time awards are great grants for organizations that want to support either young adults or incarcerated men. The key to a successful workforce grant is selecting the correct project for the crew. Youth corps crews bring enthusiasm and learning to the site; they work well on less technical projects or as a supplement to contractor or staff work. The SWIFT crews are large, often 18-28 men; these crews are quite efficient and can tackle larger and more complex projects. In all COSWAP cases, project completion is not guaranteed. Instead, successful grantees submit ambitious scopes of work with the understanding that the crews will complete as much as possible in the allotted time. In addition to its workforce development benefit, COSWAP is also unique in its low administrative burden. With a crew time award, COSWAP pays the workforce development partners directly. Crew time awards also have no match requirement which makes for simple reporting. Only cash awards have a match requirement.
There are many funding options available. See this compilation of funding for a list of programs available in Colorado.
COSWAP is open to funding trainings outside of the ones listed on this page. Please reach out to the administrator (courtney.young@state.co.us) with questions on eligibility.
See the flowchart in the request for applications to help guide your decision.
Additional Mitigation Funding Opportunities
Find additional funding opportunities for wildfire mitigation using this funding compilation.
Partners
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.
Questions
For program questions please contact:
Courtney Young, Program Administrator: courtney.young@state.co.us
Or Roberta Anderson, Program Assistant: roberta.anderson@state.co.us