In the mountains above Fort Collins, about a two-hour drive from downtown, crews are deep in the woods and hard at work to protect the city’s water.
A significant portion of Fort Collins’ water supply starts as alpine snow, trickling down through forests of tall conifers before joining the Cache la Poudre River. From there, the water flows to the treatment plants where it’s cleaned up and pumped to kitchen faucets across town.
So when these notoriously wildfire-prone forests light up, it can deal big consequences to water users far downstream. A coalition of state and local agencies is trying to prevent that…