A program providing grants to aid Summit County homeowners with wildfire mitigation projects has seen a majority of its funds approved this year, and county leaders want the remaining money to go toward lower-income residents. 

During a June 4 Summit Board of County Commissioners meetings, officials presented a list of mitigation projects this year that will be funded through the county’s wildfire prevention grant program, which sees a steady stream of dollars approved through a mill levy by county voters in 2008. The grants help neighborhoods pay for fuel reduction, tree removal, improvements to evacuation routes and other wildfire mitigation strategies. 

To date, the program has allocated over $4 million across nearly 200 projects resulting in over 2,500 acres treated for fire mitigation, according to a memo from Dan Schroder, the county’s director for the Colorado State University Extension.

This year, the program received 17 applications for projects totaling over $1 million — half of which would have been matched by county grant funding. With a total 2024 grant budget of roughly $443,000, that would have put the program over budget by about $102,000

Schroder said members of the county’s wildfire council, which reviews program spending, recommended reducing spending by limiting grants for certain projects and denying others. The savings from those cuts combined with lower-than-expected costs from the county’s chipping program netted an additional $150,000, he added. 

After asking how to proceed with using the remaining funds this year, commissioners told Schroder they would like to see lower-income residents prioritized for any additional grants. 

“The prior (board of commissioners) talked a lot with you guys about some of our historically marginalized neighborhoods,” said Commissioner Tamara Pogue, adding “I was a little disappointed to see a lot more affluent neighborhoods on this list.” 

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The list of neighborhoods with approved grant funds so far includes Corinthian Hills in Dillon, The Alders in Keystone, Village Point in Copper and homes around the Highlands in Breckenridge. 

Pogue asked what has been done to encourage more program participation from lower-income households. 

Schroder said because the grants are for property owners, providing direct assistance to lower-income populations can be tricky given that many of these residents rent and “don’t have the opportunity to do anything with property they live on.” 

Schroder added that feedback he has heard from nonprofit organizations is that low-income renters are less worried about fuel reduction and defensible space and more concerned with ensuring they have safe evacuation in the case of a fire. 

But any mitigation effort, regardless of the neighborhood, will better protect the county as a whole, Schroder said, adding, “We’re — to some degree — creating a moat around some of these communities where wildfire encroachment could be minimized.” 

And it could help mitigate housing cost increases, with wildfire risk seen as one of the drivers of increased homeowners insurance premiums that have trickled down to residents in recent years.

In the event of a fire that destroys a home, Pogue said some residents are more at risk of displacement than others, creating not only an incredible burden on that family but also on the community “in that we’re going to have to try and house them somewhere.” 

“I appreciate the work that you’ve done … but I think we still need to be thinking about it as an economic issue,” Pogue continued. 

Commissioner Eric Mamula said, “If the problem is that somebody else owns the home,” and those renting the property can’t access funding, “we need to educate the owner that this (program) exists.”