SER-RM Webinar - Lessons from the Cal-Wood Fire: Recovery Efforts for Mitigation and Restoration

The Cal-Wood Fire ignited on October 17, 2020 and burned about 10,000 acres in Boulder County Colorado – the largest wildfire in Boulder County history. 5,000 acres burned on Boulder County Parks & Open Space land, on a heavily used recreational and conservation property called Heil Valley Ranch. The remainder of the fire footprint occurred on a combination of Forest Service land, State Land Board, and private property. Boulder County Parks & Open Space Staff is taking a lead role in fire recovery efforts, including large scale aerial mulching, hazard tree removal, erosion control measures, and native seed-based restoration. Recovery work began in early in 2021 and is currently still in progress. In this webinar, Boulder County staff will present on the fire and recovery efforts, with a panel discussion to follow presentations.

Speakers for this webinar:

Sharla Benjamin – Project Manager, Licensed Civil Engineer. Sharla Benjamin leads resource enhancement and infrastructure protection construction projects as a public servant for the Boulder County Parks and Open Space Department. She is a licensed civil engineer and certified floodplain manager with 21-years of experience with stream channel and floodplain design and construction. Sharla is currently the Project Manager for debris catchment installations in stream channels throughout the Cal-Wood Fire burn area on Boulder County’s Heil Valley Ranch.

David Hirt – Senior Plant Ecologist. For the last 21 years David Hirt has worked as a plant/restoration ecologist with Boulder County Parks & Open Space, where he helps manage, monitor, map, and restore over 65,000 acres of public land with a diverse range of vegetation. Throughout that time, he has overseen dozens of restoration projects, including stream recovery efforts following the 2013 flood as well as hillslope stabilization on three different wildfires. Most recently he managed the aerial mulching efforts on the Cal-Wood Fire. He has a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Stefan Reinold – Senior Forester. As Senior Forestry Resource Specialist, Stefan Reinold leads our Forestry and Fire group in our Resource Management Division at Parks and Open Space. This work involves planning, preparation and implementation of forest management activities such as forest thinning, fuels reduction, forest restoration, and prescribed fire. Prior to joining the County in 2014, Stefan ran his own forestry consulting firm for 12 years and was a research associate at CSU for 2 years. Stefan has a Master’s degree in Forest Management from Colorado State University and is a Certified Forester through the Society of American Foresters.