The challenges facing Northern Colorado’s forests and watersheds are larger than any single organization can solve alone. Recognizing this, Peaks to People Water Fund launched the Big Thompson Watershed Health Partnership (BTWHP) in late 2022 to provide the collaboration and shared strategy required to meaningfully reduce wildfire risk and strengthen watershed resilience. What began as a coordinated response to a growing regional need has since evolved into one of the most active and effective multi-jurisdictional collaboratives in the region.
Today, more than 20 local, state, and federal partners regularly work together through the BTWHP to coordinate strategic planning, leverage funding, deploy shared expertise, and advance forest and riparian restoration projects throughout the Big Thompson watershed. The Partnership’s outcomes, made possible through effective collaboration and sustained investment, demonstrate the power of shared vision, trust, and commitment.
A critical catalyst for this progress has been the support of the National Forest Foundation (NFF) and the Northern Colorado Fireshed Collaborative (NCFC) through the Fireshed Fund. Since 2023, Peaks to People has been awarded two rounds of Fireshed Fund grants to build and maintain the capacity required to organize partners, expand strategic planning, and accelerate landscape-scale wildfire mitigation.
“Without support from the National Forest Foundation and the NOCO Fireshed Fund, we would not be able to convene and facilitate the Big Thompson Watershed Health Partnership at the pace and scale required to meet this moment. This investment has allowed us to deepen collaboration, build shared tools, and prepare our watershed for a more resilient future.”
— Sandi Good, Program Manager, Peaks to People Water Fund
Deepening Collaboration Through Strategic Planning
With Fireshed Fund support in 2024, Peaks to People and members of the BTWHP advanced pivotal watershed-wide planning tools. One milestone was the creation of the PODs-Based Treatment Planning Geospatial Tool. Developed in collaboration with the Colorado State Forest Service, Larimer County Office of Emergency Management, Colorado Forest Restoration Institute and others, this tool organizes the landscape into operationally relevant units and facilitates informed, coordinated decision-making. By aligning treatment priorities and funding needs with ownership and risk conditions, it transforms how partners visualize and plan wildfire mitigation at scale.
At the same time, Peaks to People sponsored development of the Big Thompson Wildfire Ready Action Plan (WRAP), completed in 2025. Over the course of two years more than 30 local, state, and federal partners participated in developing this watershed-wide plan, contributing insights, data, and priorities. The WRAP, a key deliverable of the Colorado Water Conservation Board’s Wildfire Ready Watersheds initiative, assessed wildfire susceptibility and produced a prioritized list of 180 mitigation projects designed to protect water resources, communities, and critical infrastructure. The top 17 stakeholder prioritized projects were developed into Project Cut Sheets—high-level project summaries that include goals, benefits, location, costs and readiness and will help us secure funding and support landowner outreach. Northern Water, Big Thompson Watershed Coalition (BTWC), and Estes Valley Watershed Coalition (EVWC), contributed significant match funding and local data as well – another example of how trust and shared expertise strengthen the entire system.
The Gateway to the Rockies: A Milestone Achievement Built on Partnership
Perhaps the most significant demonstration of collaborative impact occurred in 2025, when the BTWHP submitted a joint proposal to the Community Wildfire Defense Grant (CWDG) Program for the “Protecting the Gateway to the Rockies” Wildfire Defense Project. In October 2025, Larimer County and the BTWHP were awarded $9.8 million, one of the largest CWDG awards in the nation, as part of a $200 million investment in wildfire resilience across 58 projects.
“The Big Thompson Watershed Health Partnership is built on the foundation of collaboration, and the development of this proposal showcases the power of working together to tackle wildfire risk and protect the health of the watershed. By bringing together local agencies, nonprofits and community partners, we’ve crafted a strategic and actionable plan to protect our forests, water resources and communities. This effort reflects our shared commitment to a safer, more resilient future for the Gateway to the Rockies.”
— Josh Roberts, Larimer County Mitigation Coordinator, EOC Planning Section
Local leaders emphasized the collective commitment behind this milestone:
“We have such strong relationships and an engaged community. We’re at the cusp of helping protect our landscapes, lives and property.”
— Larimer County Commissioner Jody Shadduck-McNally
“Thank you to all of our partners very much. This work doesn’t happen in a vacuum. We all have to work together on these projects. To be able to have these grant dollars to address these issues in our wildfire regions is very important.”
— Larimer County Commissioner Kristin Stephens
This award was made possible because of the extraordinary collaboration that the BTWHP has been building since its inception. It is also, importantly, the direct result of the capacity investment made by NFF and NCFC through the Fireshed Fund. Without that foundational support, the partnership would not have been positioned to develop such a comprehensive, competitive proposal.
Collective Impact, Amplified by Strategic Investment
Fireshed Fund support has done more than sustain partnership coordination. It has leveraged millions of dollars in additional funding, empowered partners to align priorities across boundaries, and strengthened the region’s ability to strategically plan and implement high-value wildfire mitigation and watershed protection projects. From its early investments in collaborative capacity to its ongoing engagement with reporting, storytelling, and performance metrics, the Fireshed Fund has elevated the region’s readiness to respond to wildfire risk and build long-term resilience.
“As we look ahead, Peaks to People and the BTWHP remain deeply grateful for NFF and NCFC’s leadership and for the donors who make the Fireshed Fund possible. Their commitment to community-driven solutions is enabling partners across the Big Thompson to scale up, move faster, and protect the landscapes and water resources that sustain us.”
— Julie Dubin, Executive Director, Peaks to People Water Fund
Together, we are demonstrating what is possible when collaboration is fully supported and empowered: safer communities, healthier forests, more resilient watersheds, and a stronger future for Northern Colorado.