Editor’s note: The Ouray County Plaindealer started publishing profiles of nonprofits between Thanksgiving and New Year’s in 2020 as a community service.

The purpose of these profiles is to highlight the meaningful work being performed by these organizations and let the community know how they can help them even more, as the holidays approach and we reach the end of 2024. Nonprofit organizations that are based in Ouray County and serve Ouray County are eligible for these profiles.

Year established as a nonprofit: 2018

What does your organization do here in Ouray County?

Ouray County home and landowners can benefit from our free site visits to learn how to reduce their wildfire risk. Our organization also offers expertise and funding for vegetation management projects, which not only mitigate wildfire risks but also enhance forest and watershed health.

What do you list as your greatest accomplishments in 2024?

This year, we launched the Wildfire Ready Home Program and certified our first home in Ouray County. We hope this helps homeowners who may have trouble getting or maintaining home insurance due to wildfire risk. It also provides peace of mind and may increase property value. We worked with 84 Ouray County residents to provide wildfire risk reduction recommendations as well as technical and financial assistance for them to take action.

We also worked with partners to secure funding for the Ouray Community Forest Resilience project.

What are some goals or projects you have planned for 2025?

We will continue to provide Ouray County with our wildfire resiliency services and programs to support landowners, plus forest and watershed health. We also look forward to certifying more Wildfire Ready Homes.

We are recruiting for one open board position – ideally a nonprofit leader and fundraiser. We are also seeking a new forester to join our team. Visit cowildfire. org for more details and contact information.

Tell us how the community can help you do more here in Ouray County.

Donations are welcome to support operational costs and increase financial equity for mitigation projects. You may donate and/or sign up for our City Market Community Rewards program at www.cowildfire.org/ donate.

Thank you to Leigh Robertson for providing this information.