Report charts course for mitigating wildfire risks

Tribal partnerships are seen as key to e ort

BY ERIC GALATAS PUBLIC NEWS SERVICE

As wild re seasons in Colorado and across the American West become longer, less predictable and increasingly destructive, a new report aims to provide an equitable roadmap for protecting communities, watersheds and wildlife.

Rob Addington, Colorado forest program director for e Nature Conservancy, said engagement with tribal nations, who have been successful stewards of lands for thousands of years, will be critical to address the scale of the challenge.

“Developing tribal partnerships and really looking to tribal knowledge, ecological knowledge

Property tax revenue funds schools and local governments, meaning that any discussion about how they should change carries extremely high stakes. e stakes have only increased since Colorado voters in 2020 repealed the Gallagher Amendment, which prevented residential property tax bills from getting too big but, when combined with the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, strangled local government budgets. Rising property values across Colorado after the COVID-19 pandemic began have caused property tax bills to jump, too. Coloradans will get new property assessments from their counties starting May 1.

Colorado’s property taxes are among the nation’s lowest. But a big increase in property tax bills will really a ect people with xed incomes, such as retirees, who bought their homes when they were worth much less and weren’t expecting such a large nancial burden.

Gov. Jared Polis and Democrats, who control the Capitol, say they are committed to coming up with a long-term x this year.