DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colorado – Douglas County’s Wildfire Mitigation Cost-Sharing Program helps homeowners and communities protect their neighborhoods from the risk of wildfires.

In 2023, the county funded 84 projects covering 750 acres.

The program offers homeowners a 50% financial grant up to $5,000 to help them create defensible space, reduce hazards and increase wildfire resilience. In addition, the county will contribute up to $25,000 for community projects and encourages homeowner associations to apply jointly.

Not only are the workers beautifying Bryan Huntley’s Castle Pines neighborhood, they are also doing potentially life-saving work to protect the 2,000 homes in his broader neighborhood in the event of a wildfire.

“I think sometimes there’s a complacency because the situation isn’t close enough and you think this couldn’t happen to us or it won’t happen to us,” Huntley said.

For this reason, the Ridge community has applied for a grant through Douglas County’s Mitigation Cost-Share Program.

“I realized that the danger doesn’t necessarily have to start in our own neighborhood, it can be up to 20 miles away, and suddenly we’re at risk,” Huntley explained.

An individual property owner can receive up to $5,000. An HOA can receive up to $25,000.

“Douglas County is 50% open space and many of our residents live in close proximity to dense forests,” said Commissioner Abe Laydon.

In Huntley’s neighborhood, the junipers were the first to disappear.

“We found out that they were actually gas cans,” Huntley said of the juniper bushes.

According to Huntley, there are 40-year-old needles lying 30 centimeters high under the bushes, which could easily start a fire.

Laydon acknowledged that mitigation is a partnership between the county and homeowners.

“We recognize that wildfire season is not just in the summer. It runs from January 1 to December 31, and when citizens take active steps to mitigate the effects, it protects us all,” Laydon said.

Huntley is grateful that the county supports this important work.

An investment that he hopes will pay off if his community is in danger.

“Hopefully we’ll never need it, but if we do, it could really make a difference,” Huntley said.

You can find the application form here on the district’s website.