Connecting Communities and Forests

The Forest Health Task Force is a collaborative stakeholder group promoting forest health in Summit County, Colorado through education, outreach and community involvement. We explore forest management issues including tree-insect epidemics, the future forest, forest ecology, economics, recreation and right-sized timber industry.

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Our Mission

Our goal is to create a resilient and sustainable forest landscape functioning in harmony with the evolving needs of the Summit County community. Our objectives are to: educate on forest health and wildfire issues; promote cooperation between diverse stakeholder groups; collaborate on policy goals and projects with other stakeholders; increase citizen involvement; engage in forest restoration projects; monitor forest conditions; study impacts of changing climate and social conditions; encourage appropriately sized wood utilization projects; implement science-based cost-effective forest management practices allowing regeneration of a naturally diverse forest land ecosystem.

The Forest Health Task Force was founded in 2006 and has been serving the Summit County Community since.


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Ongoing Events and Activities

Public meetings monthly to educate and inform community members and decision makers; Monthly newsletters highlighting forest topics in the United States and around the globe; Ongoing monitoring of forest conditions in partnership with the US Forest Service and Friends of the Dillon Ranger District (FDRD); Forest enhancement projects to improve local forest conditions.

“The estimated value of the water filtration and storage services provided by the earth's forests is more than $4 trillion a year; as a corollary, for every 10% reduction of forest land, the cost of treating drinking water grow by about 20%.”
― Gary Ferguson, Land on Fire: The New Reality of Wildfire in the West

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Stakeholders

Our stakeholders include people and organizations impacting or impacted by forest lands in Summit County, Colorado. We actively collaborate with the U.S. Forest Service, the Colorado State Forest Service, regional and local government agencies and various local groups. Get Involved →

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Upcoming Meetings and Events

Monthly meetings are typically held the 3rd Wednesday of each month from 12-1:30 at the Summit County Community & Senior Center, 83 Nancy’s Place, Frisco. Our next meeting is Wednesday, March 20, 12-1:30. We’ll be reviewing the USFS proposed Lakeview project, located 3 miles west of Green Mountain Reservoir, and formulating a FHTF response to the project.

Past Meetings and Hot Topics

February 2024, Kyle Iseminger, Hannah Olson and Kim McDonald, Firewise Guidelines

November 2023, Tyler Peterka, Forest Management on the White River

October 2023, Howard Hallman, Forest Diversity and Resilience Looking Forward

August 2023, USFS: Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument with new boundaries

July 2023, Cam Brown: Presentation on Our Future Forest - Climate, Carbon Sequestration and Wildfire & White paper