Colorado Should Incentivize Long Term Mitigation Strategies to Protect Communities from Wildfires
Out of control wildfires are threatening the health of every Coloradan
As the planet gets hotter and drier due to climate change, an existential threat to our health has emerged. Larger and more extreme wildfires have become increasingly common in Colorado - 7 of the 10 largest wildfires in our state’s history have happened since 2010 - and the conditions that make wildfires more frequent and destructive will only get worse in the coming years. The health of every Coloradan is at risk unless our legislature acts now to give communities the resources they need to prevent wildfire damage before it happens. State lawmakers have the opportunity this legislative session to vote ‘YES’ on HB 1011 in order to leverage local dollars dedicated to long-term wildfire mitigation efforts.
The all-encompassing threat that wildfires pose to public health cannot be overstated. In the short term, not only do fires cause injuries, but the smoke released can cause health issues for both the people in the immediate area and folks hundreds of miles away who are subjected to the particulates that drift into their air. While those with existing health conditions such as children with asthma and people with cardiovascular diseases are most at risk, everyone whose air is affected by wildfire smoke can experience negative health outcomes as a result.
Health professionals across Colorado are sounding the alarm about the dangers of heavy smoke from wildfires. Days when our air is polluted with wildfire smoke inevitably lead to full emergency rooms with patients struggling to breathe, suffering cardiovascular distress, and even dying as a result of acute smoke inhalation. And yet, according to the Colorado State Forest Service, Colorado’s wildfire mitigation efforts are severely underfunded to the tune of approximately $4.2 billion. Continued failure to reduce wildfire damage would put our health at even greater risk as more severe wildfires threaten our state going forward.
Colorado has an opportunity to protect our health and put our state on a new course toward sustainable mitigation infrastructure that will incentivize other local governments across Colorado to create their own stable sources of mitigation funding. HB22-1011, Wildfire Mitigation Incentives For Local Governments, would create a grant program to provide state match funding to local governments that have long-term investments, or are considering long-term investments, to reduce the damage of wildfires before they occur.
The key to consistently lessening the severity of wildfires year after year is to invest in sustainable mitigation infrastructure. Trying to effectively mitigate priority areas through one-off allocations for individual projects amounts to a dangerous game of whack-a-mole, and this inadequate approach has led to tragic consequences for communities across Colorado. To protect counties from potentially severe wildfire damage, local experts need to mitigate all priority areas year after year, and they need consistent resources to adapt their strategies to the changing landscape that presents itself each wildfire season.
Extreme wildfires offer us a clear choice: invest in sustainable wildfire mitigation infrastructure today or pay exponentially more to clean up damaged communities and treat resulting health conditions in the future. The legislature has an easy decision to make. They need to pass HB22-1011 to incentivize local governments to fund long term mitigation strategies and put Colorado on a path towards a future where we protect communities and our health from wildfire damage before it occurs.
To read more about HB22-1011 from the House Sponsors of the bill, Representatives Lisa Cutter and Mark Snyder, check out their op-ed in Colorado Politics
here.
Press Release: Colorado Takes Important Step in Cutting Methane Pollution, But More Action is Needed
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