Jefferson County Open Space claims it may be “feasible” to carry out scientifically-contested "fuel reduction" logging in up to 25,270 acres of forests—39.5 square miles—across 32 public parks and hiking trails at a cost to taxpayers of $1,800 to $10,000 acre, approved by County Commissioners Lesley Dahlkemper, Andy Kerr, and Rachel Zenzinger.

Treasured parks already decimated by aggressive, scientifically-contested (including the county's own studies), experimental "thinning," clearcutting, and old-growth tree logging over the last few years include: Alderfer/Three Sisters, Elk Meadow, Flying J, Meyer Ranch, and White Ranch.

Parks on the chopping block for the next five years include: Beaver Ranch Park, Lookout Mountain, Mt. Falcon, Reynolds Park, Pine Valley Ranch, and Deer Creek Park. JeffCo also intends to do more tree removal in each of the previously logged parks, including Evergreen Mountain.

Jefferson County is in the process of logging hundreds of fire-resistant mature and old-growth trees up to 211-years-old at Alderfer/Three Sisters, even though its own "Forest Health" plan says to "promote larger diameter and fire-resistant trees such as ponderosa pine."

Logging is paid for with a combination of Jefferson County Open Space funds (from a 0.05% sales tax), federal, state, and private grants. Logs are removed by private timber corporations (some from out of state), with the rest of the trees sold as firewood or chipped and spread onsite.

Ecological impacts aside, Jefferson County’s unprecedented scale and scope of forest “fuel reduction” is challenged by a vast and growing body of peer reviewed science (as well as U.S. Forest Service studies) showing landscape-wide tree removal won’t stop the large weather-driven fires that threaten homes and lives.

To the contrary, this “thinning”/logging actually heats up and dries out the forest microclimate, which can make fires start easier and burn more intensely (including igniting crown fires), while opening stands that let winds spread flames quicker to nearby communities, potentially overwhelming evacuees and firefighters.

Instead, this money could be returned to low-income taxpayers as grants for home hardening and defensible space pruning less than 100 feet around homes, the only actions scientifically proven to protect structures and communities from wildfire.

Alarmingly, this “log to save the forest” scheme is also planned for 3.5 million acres of public forests in Colorado’s Front Range, and over 100 millions of acres across the West. 

Please sign this petition demanding that Jefferson County Commissioners put a moratorium on logging Open Space parks until a public hearing is held with independent wildfire scientists and public input, and instead route any taxpayer dollars towards home hardening grants so communities can protect homes and lives.