As a FireWise ambassador, I want to voice my ongoing concern over Montezuma County not completely funding the organization’s budget for this county chapter in 2016. Without the active involvement and support of our FireWise coordinator, we would not have achieved our goal of a completed Community Wildfire Protection Plan in 2015. In addition, we are nationally recognized by FIREWISE USA. We have now involved 3200 acres of privately owned property in Montezuma County in active wildfire mitigation and education efforts. In fact, our next projects will include fuels reduction on roads and accesses. We believe that this effort will save lives.
We have already spent more than $65,000 on mitigation efforts some of them joint projects with other agencies and now have a principal fuel break running the entire length of our community in the WAPA/Tri-State easement.
We have created a major dent in our fuel break at the bottom of Cash Canyon on Road P and numerous other smaller fuels reduction projects.
We simply cannot get this kind of work accomplished without the support of our FireWise coordinator.
I am asking the county to think of the safety of our ancient pinon/juniper woodland and its major wildlife corridors and habitats. Think of our farmers and ranchers and our home businesses, our retirees, our disabled, our rugged individualists. I ask the county commissioners to think about how they would like looking at a charred landscape and I respectfully ask that they fully fund this budget item for 2016.
Julia Garratt
Mancos