As the primary developer of Edgemont Highlands, this has been an ongoing topic of discussion and action for us since we began development. The story featured on Aug. 26, “Can’t see the forest for the homes,” featured a photograph of a home being built at Edgemont Highlands. This seemed misleading because no effort was made by the Herald to contact us to find out about the many efforts we have made to build responsibly on this land. I feel this is important information to share with Southwest Coloradans.

Throughout the nearly 10 years of our existence as a community, Edgemont Highlands has thinned thousands of trees, initially using drawhorses to minimize soil disturbance.

We recently developed and adopted a Community Wildfire Protection Plan. This is an invaluable tool in understanding the dynamics of our site conditions – defining and assessing the area in terms of topography and fuel loads, and creating goals for managing fuels and reducing wildfire risk. Having this plan in place has allowed us to apply for fire mitigation grants.

We recently obtained a matching grant through the Colorado State Forest Service and have applied for an additional federal grant for work we will be doing over the next several years.

We encourage our homeowners to clear their lots of underbrush, and to thin and limb trees. Our community association sponsors twice-yearly chipping days, contracting with a local company to chip what owners have removed. As part of our ongoing weed control program, we pay extra attention to weeds that present a greater fire danger.

All of these efforts are collaborative throughout the Edgemont Highlands community. I believe the entire Durango community can be more effective in reducing fire risk by sharing and learning from the various efforts that have been successful for different communities in the region.

Tom Gorton

Durango