Embers of Change: Rethinking Water Governance in the Face of Wildfire in Colorado's Front Range

Keywords: adaptation governance, water resources, wildfires, human-environment relationships
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

Wildfires have historically been a part of the natural ecology of Front Range Colorado; however, various land management practices like fire suppression through the last century have yielded in extremely high vegetation densities and more frequent fire events that damage infrastructure connecting rural water sources to downstream urban communities while contaminating water wells in the rural areas and threatening water quality in the urban corridor of Colorado’s Front Range Mountains. Governance of fire-sheds and watersheds is multifaceted and multi-jurisdictional, involving several institutions and nongovernmental organizations that receive financial aid from state and federal governments. This research investigates how wildfire adaptation interventions and securing water resources for urban areas reshape rural socio-environmental relationships and land management practices. The objective is to examine adaptation responses, interventions and jurisdictions of various government and non-government actors and answer: (i) How is power situated between and within the actors? What patterns develop across jurisdictions and how does it affect water supply and infrastructure in the cities and rural areas of Boulder County, CO. This case study incorporates a multi-sited research design incorporating a variety of methods (interviews, household surveys, stakeholder analysis, land use and systematic mapping). Preliminary findings state that adaptation interventions are proposed by several actors and the responsibility of implementing these measures does not solely rest on the ones implementing these measures, rather it is shared collectively by all stakeholders such as homeowners and residents who function as agents of governance, each playing a crucial role in the adaptation process.