Forest Glen

Working as a team to create a fully fire-mitigated and home-hardened neighborhood in Teller County, CO!

Western Teller neighborhood takes on ambitious goal: completely fire mitigate and harden all its homes against wildland fire.

Forest Glen, just off Highway 24, near the Teller/Park County line, is serious about being “Wildland Fire Ready”. Residents of this small community have pulled together to increase fire mitigation and home hardening education, and they are doing even more: working together, they are leveraging the US Forest Service Fire Mitigation project to the west of the subdivision, adding a large, continuous fuel break across their neighborhood to protect all homes.

The group hopes a continuous swath of private properties focused on fuel reduction, forest health, fire mitigation techniques, and home hardening against blowing embers, will reduce the chance of homes igniting, encourage insurance companies to lower rates across the neighborhood, and provide a large “safety zone” for local first responders, while setting an example for Park and Teller Counties.

The Forest Glen Property Owners Association reached out to Don Moore, founder of NoFloCo Fire Mitigation Posse. NoFloCo is Teller County’s volunteer fire mitigation group, active in the area since 2019. The organization is the 2025 National Fire Mitigation Award winner, as recognized by the US Forest Service, International Fire Chiefs Association, and the National Fire Protection Association. The POA asked if it was possible to mitigate an entire community.  Could neighbors assist neighbors in home hardening techniques? Moore loved the idea, thought it was perfectly doable, and promised NoFloCo volunteers would assist.

The two organizations are coming together on July 19, 2025 to begin the work. If all goes well, this will be the first of many community workdays in the neighborhood, with Forest Glen POA taking the lead, assisted by NoFloCo. Much planning and many meetings preceded this ambitious project.  Mitigation work in the neighborhood will begin on POA Common Areas.

Starting with Common Area properties was intentional. It gives residents a neutral area to learn mitigation skills, and a central location to witness the transformation from unhealthy, crowded, and diseased to thinned, cleaned, healthy, and therefore, fire resistant, forested private property.

Mitigation FAQ’s

What is wildfire mitigation? It is the proactive preparation of your property to provide the best chance for surviving a wildfire.

Why mitigate? Many home insurance companies are requiring mitigation to renew, or are simply dropping customers living in this area.  We are located in a very high wildland fire risk community.  Mitigated property is MORE VALUABLE. 

What does complete mitigation look like? Removal of deadfall, removal of ladder fuels (lower branches up to 8 feet), removal of dead/diseased trees, removal of living trees which present hazards – too close together, too close to home, etc.   After that, complete mitigation includes the removal of brush, needles, pine cones, etc. in a 10-foot wide area around any structure.   Additional home-hardening can be achieved by homeowners.

More details – https://www.nofloco.org/learn-to-mitigate

Note- A healthy number of “stems” per acre is approximately 50 trees of all sizes.   More than that risks forest health due to disease/overcrowding and makes wildfires much more intense and difficult to put out.

Who is NoFloCo? - https://www.nofloco.org/faq

What is being proposed? A three-phase mitigation project starting in July 2025.  This project is anticipated to provide a community mitigation showcase to insurance companies, other wildfire organizations, media, etc.

What is the cost? Nothing!  This project is being done at no cost to the residents in order to create one of the nation’s first fully mitigated communities.

What will be done? NoFloCo and Forest Glen POA volunteers will remove large deadfall and branches from the forest floor.

Identified trees - diseased, crowded, etc. will be felled, limbed, bucked (sawed into fireplace-sized rounds) and then stacked near a road for seasoning, and given to the community.   Slash piles will be formed from the limbs and deadfall for adequate seasoning and for burning by permit, during the winter snow season.

What are the different phases?

Phase 1 – (Left to right below) includes the common area behind and adjacent to the club house.  The common area on the Northeast side of the lake, and the common area on the North side of Forest Glen Trail. 

Phase 2 – Phase 2 will start on the Southwest corner of the Community.   As almost all wildfires in Colorado go from Southwest to Northeast. Homeowners' permission is required ahead of any activity on their property.

Phase 3 – Phase 3 will include the rest of the private lots whose owners have signed up for mitigation as well as any remaining common areas.

During all phases, communication will be provided through the NoFloCo Website and contacts available there. https://www.nofloco.org/forest-glen

Training for phase activities will be provided on the day that project phase occurs. Home Hardening classes will be provided during the three phases. Additional mitigation and wild-fire training opportunities will be provided. At all the phases, food, fun and camaraderie are part of the mix.

Get involved…  There are plenty of ways to participate. You don’t have to chop down trees or rake needles: picking up sticks, assisting with set up/food/water/and other jobs are available.  Please join NoFloCo and FGSA HOA leadership to help make Forest Glen and other Teller/Park neighborhoods better places to live! Call/text Don Moore 719-839-0860 donmoore@nofloco.org.