Background
The communities and forests in the Pikes Peak region, on Colorado’s southern Front Range, are dominated by ponderosa pine and mixed conifer forests that are extremely vulnerable to unnaturally large and severe wildfires.  These wildfire events, and the post-fire flooding, erosion and debris flow that often follows, threaten the safety and well-being of human communities as well as the sustainability of a wide range of ecosystem benefits.  Unfortunately, it is not a question of IF, but WHEN these disturbances will occur. 

As a result of their intimate experience with wildfire, the communities and organizations in the Pikes Peak area have been very active in promoting and implementing community wildfire protection and forest management strategies that reduce hazardous fuel levels; primarily through mechanical treatment. However, forest-wide mechanical treatment is cost prohibitive, leading many local land managers to seek additional measures. Adding and increasing the use of prescribed and managed fire is needed in order to achieve landscape-level change.

The Pikes Peak FLN was established to bring local and regional partners together to collaboratively identify and implement strategies for safely, effectively, and appropriately increasing the use of fire for management. Current participants in the FLN include: fire protection and emergency management organizations, public utilities, public land management agencies, academic and research institutions, homeowners’ organizations, local governments, conservation oriented non‐profits, and others.

The Pikes Peak FLN will enhance the capacity of local organizations by providing them with opportunities to learn from one another, gain valuable hands-on fire management training and increase community engagement on fire and forest management issues.

Vision, Mission and Goals
Vision:  We envision a future where both communities and ecosystems in the Pike’s Peak Region are fire- adapted and resilient in the face of fire and other disturbances.

Mission: The mission of the Pike’s Peak Fire Learning Network is to improve public and firefighter safety, infrastructure security and ecosystem resilience by facilitating regional collaboration around fire management capacity, public engagement and implementation of managed fire for natural resource benefit.

Goals:
•    Build public support for the use of fire for management by sharing science-based information and positive messages about the role of fire in Front Range ecosystems and the importance of retaining fire as a management tool.
•    Increase the prescribed fire capacity of FLN partners through training and establish the FLN as a key resource for helping fire practitioners identify and participate in important training opportunities.
•    Demonstrate the safe and effective use of fire and engage FLN partners in working together to implement both pile and broadcast burn projects.

Activities
FLN activities include building an effective stakeholder network, hosting public workshops on fire ecology and the use of fire for management, facilitating training opportunities for fire practitioners, and implementing prescribed burns.   Click here for more information on FLN activities.

Resources
•    Pikes Peak FLN Notes, Publications and Other Materials
•    Materials on Front Range Forests and Fire Ecology
•    Materials on Prescribed Fire
•    Materials on Wildfire Mitigation and Community Preparedness

For More Information
Fact sheet: an introduction to this network, including a map and partner list, from the latest FLN Field Guide.