Plan announced to restore Hayman area

9/29/2009

Millions of dollars will go into trees, rivers and once-lush landscape charred by Colorado's largest wildfire because of a partnership announced Monday night at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.

Vail Resorts, the U.S. Forest Service and the National Forest Foundation said they would raise $4 million to undo much of the damage before the 10-year anniversary of the 2002 Hayman fire.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack made the announcement flanked by Gov. Bill Ritter, U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, U.S. Rep. Betsy Markey and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper.

Besides its ecological mission, "Treasured Forests: The Hayman Fire Restoration Partnership" will create jobs and spur volunteerism and tourism in mountain communities, Vilsack said.

"It's about employment opportunities," he said of the initiative. "It's about water quality. It's about doing what's right with this national treasure."

Volunteers and new employees will plant hundreds of thousands of native trees and shrubs, rebuild trails and restore the environmental vigor to rivers, streams and reservoirs that channel drinking water to 70 percent of the state's residents.

The work is expected to begin this fall, though less than half of the $4 million has been raised.

Vail Resorts and the Forest Service will put up $750,000 each. The rest will come from donations to the nonprofit National Forest Foundation.

The resort chain's employees will donate 1,500 hours of work "on the ground" in the national forest, said Rob Katz, Vail Resorts' chairman and chief executive.

"This restoration is critical to Colorado," Katz told the gathering of dignitaries at the museum.

The Hayman fire burned 137,760 acres, 133 homes and nearly 500 other buildings.

Gov. Bill Ritter endorsed Vilsack's suggestion that opportunity sprouts from disaster.

"It's truly an American spirit," he said. "But it's also a Colorado spirit."