{"id":157165,"date":"2024-06-27T14:08:05","date_gmt":"2024-06-27T20:08:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=157165"},"modified":"2024-07-03T09:57:47","modified_gmt":"2024-07-03T15:57:47","slug":"csfd-partners-with-uccs-for-wildfire-mitigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=157165","title":{"rendered":"CSFD partners with UCCS for wildfire mitigation\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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CSFD and UCCS leadership stand in front of a mitigated area<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The UCCS campus is now more protected from wildfires thanks to mitigation efforts by the Colorado Springs Fire Department (CSFD).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CSFD mitigated nearly 19 acres of UCCS property, reducing woody biomass by about 50% and eliminating what\u2019s known as \u201cladder fuels,\u201d which are plants that can carry a fire burning in low-growing vegetation to taller vegetation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFires become much more difficult to fight when they reach the tops of trees,\u201d explained Cory Ashby, Wildfire Program Coordinator. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Before (left) and after (right)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Vegetation was left in the mitigated areas in groups and clumps, maintaining the natural character of the land while also creating a more defensible space. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe never clear-cut or anything like that,\u201d said Ashby. \u201cWe\u2019re just breaking up the heterogeneity of the landscape and removing overgrown vegetation.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Certain areas of campus were left untouched due to the presence of cultural sites. Some areas were also too steep for the mitigation equipment. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Before (left) and after (right)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The project costs were covered by the 2D voter passed ballot measure for city-wide and regional wildfire mitigation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This project was considered a re-mitigation effort, as the land around UCCS had been treated about eight years ago. The area will need re-mitigation in about 5-10 years, depending on how quickly plants like oak grow back.  <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Before (left) and after (right)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

For more information about fire mitigation and what you can do to protect your property, check out this CSFD document<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The UCCS campus is now more protected from wildfires thanks to mitigation efforts by the Colorado Springs Fire Department.\u00a0 (More)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":157170,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,49],"tags":[331,332],"class_list":["post-157165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-campus-announcements","tag-campus-announcements","tag-more-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Wildfire-Communique-Featured-Image.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1mBpJ-ESV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=157165"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":157196,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157165\/revisions\/157196"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/157170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=157165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=157165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=157165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}