Wildfire Ready Action Plan (WRAP) for the Town's Drinking Water Protection
The community’s source water protection area encompasses areas of upper Gunnison County where the Wildfire Composite Map that measures wildfire intensity and burn probability has ranked it in the highest hazard rating. A wildfire would be catastrophic to the Town’s drinking water supply and firefighting ability. The Town of Crested Butte obtains its drinking water from two surface water intakes in the Coal Creek Watershed.
This project contracts with an engineering firm to develop Wildfire Ready Action Plan. This plan focuses on the current drinking water source watershed including above Lake Irwin and Coal Creek Watershed (Hydrologic Unit Code - HUC 12) and the potential alternative water source along Slate River including Oh-Be-Joyful and Washington Gulch watersheds (HUC 12). The WRAP TCB (Town of Crested Butte) Planning Team selected JW Associates and SGM team as the chosen consultant. The Planning Team is made of Forest Services: Colorado Forest Service and US Forest Service; watershed associations : Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District, Coal Creek Watershed Coalition, HCCA; Gunnison County and Town staff. The Planning team will work with the consultant to help move the project forward during the project.
There will be 3 Stakeholder meetings, if you are part of an association for watershed, wildlife, forest, water, wildfire, please email cdegroot@crestedbutte-co.gov to be invited. There will be a Public meeting in July 2025 that will be advertised in the CB News and this website.
WRAP really focuses on watershed health, mitigation to help hydrology of water, debris, soil prior to a wildfire following the CWCB guidelines, the Town has received $150,000 grant from CWCB - thank you. Task 1,2,3 involves the stakeholder outreach, public meetings and facilitation to establish goals and objectives; identifying existing data, data gaps and values at risk; and susceptibility analysis. Task 4 is very important stage of post-wildfire modeling and identification of preventative measures. This involves hydraulic modeling, floods after fire, fluvial (erosion and deposition hazard zones), debris flows (including mud), hillslope and gully erosion (sediment yield), water quality and drinking water. Task 5 is performing susceptibility analysis to evaluate risk to water infrastructure, transportation, utility infrastructure, life safety and property. Task 6 is Pre-Disaster Planning and Mitigation Activities that includes both a Pre-Disaster and Post Disaster Preparedness Plan.
The Town of Crested Butte council awarded JW Associates (with SGM subcontracted) on March 3rd, 2025 to January 16th, 2026.