Our History

The Routt County Wildfire Mitigation Council formed following the

Routt County Wildfire Mitigation Roundtable and Conference

in Steamboat Springs, May of 2019.

At the conference, resource professionals, county and city stakeholders and the general public gathered to assess the wildfire mitigation needs of Routt County and provide information on fire mitigation and management.

The Routt County Wildfire Mitigation Council is comprised of county and city representatives, local state and federal officials, non-governmental organizations, homeowners associations as well as local businesses and private landowners.

What we do

The mission of the Routt County Wildfire Mitigation Council (RCWMC) is to create resilient fire-adapted communities to minimize potential impacts of wildfire.

RCWMC will work to facilitate fuel reduction by coordinating with all of our stakeholders to address the risk at a landscape level by working all the way down to the neighborhood level; provide resources, information and learning opportunities for individual landowners; and change social norms related to wildfire mitigation and preparedness in our community.

The Goals of the Council are to:

Increase partnerships and collaboration among individuals, property owners, and public, private, and nonprofit organizations to share information, identify risks, and prioritize and implement mitigation actions in Routt County.

Promote public awareness and understanding of wildfire risk to foster community-driven action to reduce risk and the impacts of wildfire in Routt County.

Support property owners through technical assistance to take action to protect their property from wildfire.

Coordinate countywide information on wildfire risk and the prioritization and completion of forest management projects to protect property, infrastructure, watersheds, and ecosystems.

Encourage local planning and land use and building codes to incorporate wildfire mitigation principles.

Staff

Executive Director

Josh Hankes

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Josh was hired as our first employee in November 2022. Prior to that, he led a mid-size industrial contracting firm where he served in roles supporting environmental health & safety, risk control, project management, sales, and executive leadership. It was Josh’s desire to transition to a more purposeful career and confront our changing climate that led him to Routt County and the world of wildfire mitigation. Josh immersed himself in the subject matter while contributing to the development of Routt County’s most recent CWPP and scaling up the organization to meet the public need.

Josh was recognized as a partner with the Wildfire Research Center (WiRē) on a CO-Labs Governor’s Award for Pathfinding Partnerships for work on three studies in Routt County. He was also invited to join the Board of Directors of Fire-Adapted Colorado (FACO), a nonprofit organization focused on connecting, empowering, supporting, and valuing the mitigation specialists who are actively pursuing community and residential mitigation strategies, landscape treatments, post-wildfire recovery efforts, watershed protection treatments and other efforts across the state.

Josh lives in Steamboat Springs with his wife, two children, and dogs.

Program Manager

Halie Cunningham

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Halie was hired in 2024 as the Program Manager and Mitigation Specialist. She received her Bachelor’s of Science in Sustainable Development from Appalachian State University, a graduate certificate in Climate Adaptation from North Carolina State University, and received her Master’s in Environmental Management from Western Colorado University in May 2025.

Halie attributes her instinctual love for nature and her career path to growing up in rural North Carolina, riding horses in the endangered Longleaf Pine savannas endemic to the Sandhills ecosystem, beaching at Murrells Inlet every summer in her family’s RV, and to learning to ski in Sun Valley, Idaho, on a yearly family ski trip. She has worked in many areas of sustainability: outdoor recreation, agrotourism, zero waste, water conservation, and now community-based wildfire mitigation. Halie lives with her husband and many fur and feather babies (a dog, horse, rabbit, and ducks), and tends to a root vegetable garden in Hayden, Colorado.

Membership

Board of Directors

Chair

Chuck Cerasoli

Fire Chief, Steamboat Springs Fire Rescue

Vice Chair

Scott Cowman

Director of Environmental Health, Routt County

Secretary

Sarah Jones

Director of Sustainability and Community Engagement, Steamboat Ski & Resort Corporation

Treasurer

Phil Lauinger

Citizen

Jeff Merage

Citizen

Brad Calvert

Principal Planner, City of Steamboat Springs

Nathan Stewart

Professor of Ecosystem Science, Stewardship & Sustainability Colorado Mountain College

Kathy Laurini

Citizen, Neighborhood Wildfire Ambassador

Alyssa Wilhelme

Emergency Management Specialist Routt County

Sponsors & Supporters

We wouldn’t exist without support from our primary grant funding and sponsors. While we receive strong grant funding, oftentimes those funds are very specific in their allowable usage. That’s where our local partners have been incredibly helpful. Flexible funds and in-kind support enable us to make strategic decisions and pursue opportunities as they arise.