EXPLORING ISSUES FACING OUR GREAT OUTDOORS
Funding for conservation in Colorado is applauded, mayors plan ahead for disasters and a fisherman fights for the right to access.
With over 4 million Coloradans experiencing drought conditions and the largest coverage of extreme drought our state has seen since 2013, most of us are focused not on an excess of rain and flooding, but its absence.
Yet when we remember weather events in 2013, we cannot forget the destructive flooding and fires in the Front Range from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs. In Colorado, the interplay between drought, wildfires, and flooding is well documented and cyclical. As dry conditions allow the brush cover to burn more easily, charred landscapes are less able to absorb rain and reduce runoff, setting the stage for flash floods and destructive mudslides. Today’s dry lands are tomorrow’s flash floods.
As the Mayors of Colorado Springs and Fort Collins, we understand that the best time to prepare for the next disaster is before it strikes. Our cities have faced repeated floods over the last several decades and have
taken it upon ourselves to invest heavily in flood mitigation, creating a cohesive network between flood plain management and infrastructure renovation and development. As experts gather across the country for National Infrastructure Week, we join the call to make our nation’s infrastructure floodready.
Following historic floods like the devastating deluge of 1997, Fort Collins has developed a series of proactive measures. In early June 2012, lightning struck the dry foothills west of Fort Collins, igniting the High Park Fire. Burning more than 87,200 acres, destroying 259 homes and taking one human life, it was the most destructive fire in Larimer County history and the second largest in Colorado history at the time.
This fire ripened conditions for what could have been devastating impacts during the 2013 flood, when up to 12 inches of rain fell in parts of Fort Collins within a week. Fortunately, the city benefited from measures it implemented following the High Park Fire and since the 1997 flood that resulted in relatively minor impacts in Fort Collins. Since then, the city has earned a Class 2 rating in the National Flood Insurance Program’s Community Rating System, making the community one of only six nationwide that can receive up to a 40 percent discount in flood insurance rates for citizens and businesses.
Similarly, in Colorado Springs, the 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire destroyed nearly 350 homes and caused an evacuation of more than 30,000 residents. The damage could have been much worse had it not been for wildfire mitigation projects.
The burn scar left by the fire increased the city’s vulnerability to flooding and contributed to the degree of damages felt in Colorado Springs and other communities from the 2013 flood. From addressing repeatedly flooded properties, to revegetating the Waldo Canyon Burn Scar, to reducing the intensity of floodwaters through stabilization projects like that along the Camp Creek stream, the city has undertaken a spectrum of activities to reduce risk posed by future floods since 2013. These efforts have already reduced impacts and saved significant sums of taxpayer dollars in avoided damages.
Both of our cities recognize the need improve our nation’s aging infrastructure. Earlier this year, we joined a bipartisan collection of more than 250 city and state elected leaders from all 50 states in signing a Flood-ready Infrastructure Statement of Principles to ensure that as we invest in our nation’s infrastructure, we do so with an eye towards future risks.
Our communities are utilizing these principles as we plan for our cities’ futures, and have seen the benefits of investing in natural infrastructure, reducing unsustainable development in the most at-risk areas, and making sure that new construction is built to withstand future floods. It’s time that these concepts were implemented nationally. What has worked in Colorado can work elsewhere, and as Congress helps communities recover following disasters and looks to invest and upgrade our nation’s infrastructure, it is critical that it do so with these Principles in mind. It may be dry today, but we need to plan and be better prepared for the next storm.