Fire Mitigation at
Rocky Mountain Village

Who We Are

Hi! Our names are Mila Koeva and Kayla Elwood. We are two Evergreen High School students, that are taking an Honors Earth and Space Science class. We are working on a project about the impacts of wildfires in Colorado and will be holding an event that will improve the safety of the community.

Wildfire Education

Wildfires are very prevalent in Colorado. They are a natural hazard that could ignite at any moment and could create a very dangerous situation to be in. The state of Colorado faces dry climates, higher temperatures, and longer fire seasons. You may have noticed that fire bans begin as the temperatures start to rise towards Mid-Spring and into late Fall. In order to protect ourselves from this dangerous hazard, we must learn how to mitigate our community and homes correctly. To learn more about the dangers of wildfires, visit these websites:


Our Goal

We are partnering with the Clear Creek County Fire Department and Easterseals Colorado's Rocky Mountain Village (RMV) Camp to work towards a more resilient and more efficient mitigation system in the community. We decided to conduct our fire mitigation project at RMV and with this project, we will be working to decrease the risk of wildfires in the area by creating defensible spaces.

We are organizing a volunteer-based day where people can come to camp and clean specific areas that are susceptible to wildfire in order to create defensible spaces. With the help of volunteers, we will be cleaning debris like pine needles, dead brush, pine cones, waste, and other materials that could act as fuel to a wildfire, and we will also be clearing low-lying branches on trees. After the areas have been cleared of debris we will plant new vegetation that will rehabilitate the forests but will be low-maintenance and will not act as fuel to a potential wildfire.


How To Get Involved

For this project, we will need volunteers! If you are interested in performing some volunteer hours to help mitigate RMV, please sign up below! We would love your help! If you choose to volunteer, on the day of the clean up we would use common tools to remove branches, debris, waste, and other fuel and plant new flora. Lunch and snacks would be provided and you would get to work along with the view of the nearby mountains and in the fresh air!

Learn About Volunteering Here!

Volunteer

The link to the Sign Up Genius to volunteer is below. There are two dates put. The first date, May 8th is the scheduled date for the Clean-Up Day and May 15th is an alternate day in the case of weather, closures, and availability. We would also love to have volunteers bring their own tools if they are available in order to ensure that we have enough equipment and everything is kept clean. However, if you do not have any tools available for the collection of the debris, there will be some provided at camp.


Donate

As we collect the debris at camp on Clean Up Day we will need donations to provide means for disposal of the materials. All the collected debris will be transported to a location where it can be burned safely and responsibly. If you would like to donate to provide funds for disposal, food, and tools please use Venmo. The username is @Easterseals-Colorado and you can put the šŸ”„ fire emoji in the subject. With this emoji, we will be able to see which donations are for this project.


Covid-19 Precautions

We will be taking the necessary precautions to keep all of the volunteers during this day safe and healthy. The event will be socially distant as camp has 220 acres of usable land. We will be providing work gloves, hand sanitizer, and extra masks. The food will be prepackaged and prepared using food safety precautions and any work tools and supplies will be disinfected. All work will be done outdoors and no one will be permitted inside buildings unless for the use of a bathroom or other necessary needs.


About RMV

Rocky Mountain Village (RMV) Camp, a program of Easterseals Colorado, is a fully accessible camp for children and adults living with disabilities. Located on 220 acres in Empire, CO, RMV provides a safe, barrier-free environment for people living with disabilities to experience all aspects of camp without usual limitations. RMV is all about the things that campers CAN do - swimming, fishing, hiking, arts & crafts, sports & recreation, music & drama, horseback riding, zip-lining, and more! The link below will take you to the Easterseals website where you can learn more about camp.