Fire-mitigation work along Horse Gulch Road will begin the week of September 12, starting at the north end of the road.
Durango Fire Protection District crews will be manually cutting and chipping along Horse Gulch Road through Horse Gulch beginning next week and continuing through the fall as they are available until the project is completed. This project will reduce the density of overgrown shrubs and remove ladder fuels on and around trees creating a healthier forest stand and a safer access for emergency response should a fire occur.
Trails and trailheads in Horse Gulch will remain open during the work, and trail users are asked to anticipate crews and equipment along the roadway.
“This Horse Gulch Road mitigation work provides a great opportunity to enhance fire resiliency in our community,” said Amy Schwarzbach, natural resources manager for the city. “We’d like to thank trail users, in advance, for giving the crews safe working space out there while they do this work.”
The efforts are being planned by Fire Adapted Durango, a partnership between the City of Durango Parks and Recreation Department and numerous fire experts. Funding support for this work is from the Bureau of Land Management and Durango’s Parks, Open Space and Trails sales tax fund.
The thinning adheres to Colorado State Forest Service prescriptions for this vegetation type and terrain. This work is the continuation of a multi-phase project focused on mitigating fire risk within the Durango Wildland Urban Interface. More information is available at DurangoGov.org/FireMitigation.
Signage will be in place to notify trail users of the work being done. For more information, contact the Parks and Recreation Department at (970) 375-7321 or [email protected].
