Connecting Communities and Forests
The Forest Health Task Force is a collaborative stakeholder group promoting forest health in Summit County, Colorado through education, outreach and community involvement. We explore forest management issues including tree-insect epidemics, the future forest, forest ecology, economics, recreation and right-sized timber industry.
Our Mission
Our goal is to create a resilient and sustainable forest landscape functioning in harmony with the evolving needs of the Summit County community. Our objectives are to: educate on forest health and wildfire issues; promote cooperation between diverse stakeholder groups; collaborate on policy goals and projects with other stakeholders; increase citizen involvement; engage in forest restoration projects; monitor forest conditions; study impacts of changing climate and social conditions; encourage appropriately sized wood utilization projects; implement science-based cost-effective forest management practices allowing regeneration of a naturally diverse forest land ecosystem.
The Forest Health Task Force was founded in 2006 and has been serving the Summit County Community since.
Ongoing Events and Activities
Public meetings monthly to educate and inform community members and decision makers; Monthly newsletters highlighting forest topics in the United States and around the globe; Ongoing monitoring of forest conditions in partnership with the US Forest Service and Friends of the Dillon Ranger District (FDRD); Forest enhancement projects to improve local forest conditions.
“The estimated value of the water filtration and storage services provided by the earth's forests is more than $4 trillion a year; as a corollary, for every 10% reduction of forest land, the cost of treating drinking water grow by about 20%.”
― Gary Ferguson, Land on Fire: The New Reality of Wildfire in the West
Stakeholders
Our stakeholders include people and organizations impacting or impacted by forest lands in Summit County, Colorado. We actively collaborate with the U.S. Forest Service, the Colorado State Forest Service, regional and local government agencies and various local groups. Get Involved →
Upcoming Meetings & Events
Monthly meetings are typically held the 3rd Wednesday of each month from 12-1:30 at the Summit County Community & Senior Center, 83 Nancy’s Place, Frisco. Our next meeting is Wednesday, September 18, 12-1:30. Brad Piehl will be discussing The Wildfire Ready Watersheds program, a planning and implementation tool being implemented throughout Colorado. It is funded by a grant program through the Colorado Water Conservation Board. He is trying to get this process going in the Blue River. He will discuss what it is, who is working on it, and how it can help other projects related to forest and watershed health.
Past Meetings and Hot Topics
August 2024, Doozie Martin and Lindsay Martinez : I-70 East Vail Pass Wildlife Crossings
June 2024, Ryan Cook: Prioritizing Noxious Weeds/Invasive Species Mitigation.
May 15, Joe Newhart: The Ancestral Rocky Mountains
April 17, Dave Bird: Drone Satellite and GIS for Conservation
February 2024, Kyle Iseminger, Hannah Olson and Kim McDonald, Firewise Guidelines
November 2023, Tyler Peterka, Forest Management on the White River
October 2023, Howard Hallman, Forest Diversity and Resilience Looking Forward
August 2023, USFS: Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument with new boundaries
July 2023, Cam Brown: Presentation on Our Future Forest - Climate, Carbon Sequestration and Wildfire & White paper