Wildfire Funders Connect in CO
The Wildfire Resilience Funders convening in Fort Collins, Colorado left me feeling inspired by the people leading this work, connected to the great funder participants, and grateful to be a part of this network.
Kicking off our convening with an aerial tour – sponsored by LightHawk and co-hosted by Coalitions and Collaboratives – rooted me in the urgency and importance of this work. I will never be able to erase the image of looking down on piles of dead trees that stretched on as far as the eye could see. The burn scars were from as far back as 2014, and barely any new growth had returned. The damage of megafires to the ecosystems that serve people, animals, plants and our collective wellbeing is deep and lasting.
And yet those very same fires whose scars we had seen from the air skipped over areas where thoughtful prescribed burning and thinning had taken place, due to the incredible collaborative work of many community partners working together. Our memorable site visit in a winter wonderland may not have given us great visibility to see what was around us, but the messages from our speakers were clear: incredibly thoughtful work is happening by folks on the ground to protect communities, and even more could be done with expanded capacity.
Sharing space with all of you as we reflected on the water/wildfire nexus and community resilience lifted up all kinds of new considerations in thinking about the work holistically. And of course, the memorable slide (that’s right, an adult slide!) at the New Belgium Brewery will leave me with lasting memories of all the fun alongside all the great learning and connections.
If you work with a grant making organization that is exploring or already active on wildfire issues, and are interested in participating in the WRF please contact us.