Federal program could offer nearly $3 million — if cash-poor leaders can find matching dollars

Ouray County could receive nearly $3 million in federal funding to protect homes, roads and other infrastructure from flooding and debris flows in the wake of the Gold Mountain Fire.

In order to unlock those federal dollars, though, it needs to secure hundreds of thousands of dollars in matching funds.

County leaders have received a verbal commitment for a $2.88 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. A little more than $2.5 million would target four areas burned by the fire and prone to damage from excessive monsoonal rains: County Road 14, Dexter Creek, Cutler Creek and Crooked Tree Gulch, which is between Cutler Creek and Cedar Hill Cemetery, County Manager Antonio Mendez said.

He said the money would be used to purchase sand bags, concrete blocks, debris fences and other equipment and materials to try to safeguard watersheds and prevent flooding of roads, including U.S. Highway 550.

The remainder of the federal grant would provide technical and training assistance.

Mendez said county officials have been working for a couple of weeks on securing funding from the NRCS’s Emergency Watershed Protection Program, with Deputy County Attorney Bob Perry taking the lead in fire recovery efforts. He said Clinton Whitten, the program manager for the state of Colorado, contacted county leaders within days of the start of the fire to offer assistance.

“We know it’s a possibility,” Mendez said of flooding and debris flows, especially in burn scar areas. “We know there’s an urgency” to prepare for an emergency.

Mendez emphasized the NRCS grant offer is an estimate, and that the number could change. It’s also contingent upon a 25% match of non-federal dollars — about $630,000.

County commissioners agreed last week to pitch in $156,000. Ouray City Administrator Michelle Metteer asked city councilors Monday night to consider contributing funding, noting the fire and its aftermath will impact both residents and businesses. The council will hold a special meeting July 27 to vote on whether to pitch in financially.

Mendez said he’s searching far and wide for additional matching dollars.

He has contacted or plans to contact several governmental agencies and nonprofit organizations, including the town of Ridgway, the state Department of Local Affairs, the Colorado Department of Transportation, the Colorado River District, the Telluride Foundation and the Western Colorado Community Foundation.

County officials don’t have to look any farther than Gunnison County to see the impacts from post-fire flooding.

Thunderstorms triggered at least three mudslides on East Portal Road in Curecanti National Recreation Area near Gunnison on July 16, stranding campers and motorists for hours. The road cuts through areas burned by last year’s South Rim Fire that ignited in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.

Mendez said he is thinking about scrounging up funding not just for the federal Emergency Watershed Protection Program, but to cover other costs the county has incurred with the fire and to pay for recovery efforts in the months and years to come. County commissioners signed off on a plan to hire a recovery manager — but only if Mendez can come up with the funding.

He also needs to find resources to pay for employee overtime, potential reseeding efforts and future firefighting costs.

Eventually, Mendez noted, the Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team will hand responsibility for managing the fire back to the county.

There is no estimated timeline for that to happen.

“I don’t know what the costs are going to be at that point,” he said. “I’m trying to leave ourselves room to afford whatever does come back our way.”

The county also announced this week it’s launching the Corbett Creek bridge replacement project, which is meant to address flooding concerns near County Road 17 where it intersects with Highway 550 to access Whispering Pines.

The project was already planned for and budgeted, and flash flooding and potential mud slides in the burn scar area up Corbett Creek has added even more concern.

The county is closing the intersection for the project and said travelers should plan to detour around the closure until at least Oct. 8.