About

Why This Site Exists

Yampa Valley Defensible Space is an independent resource built for one reason: homeowners in Steamboat Springs, Oak Creek, and Craig searching for wildfire mitigation guidance mostly find two things — dense government PDFs, or generic home-services marketing that could be advertising anything from gutter cleaning to landscaping. Neither one actually answers "what do I do, what does it cost, and who do I call."

This site tries to close that gap: practical, zone-by-zone guidance on defensible space and home hardening, straight answers on cost and funding, and a single form that routes your project to a local contractor sized right for the job — rather than a directory of listings you have to sort through yourself.

Where the guidance comes from

The Home Ignition Zone framework used throughout this site (the 0–5ft / 5–30ft / 30–100ft zones) reflects widely-used wildfire mitigation guidance developed by organizations including the Colorado State Forest Service, CSU Extension, and local wildfire councils. This site is independently run and is not affiliated with, operated by, or speaking on behalf of Routt County government, the Routt County Wildfire Mitigation Council (RCWMC), CSU Extension, or any fire protection district. Where program specifics matter — grant amounts, deadlines, local ordinances — we point you to those organizations directly rather than restate figures that can go stale.

How contractor matching works

This isn't a directory that shows you a list of competing contractors to call yourself. The lead form asks a handful of questions about your project — scope, whether tree removal is involved, property size, timeline — and routes your submission to one of two contractor tiers: small independent crews for brush and around-the-house work, or established companies for tree removal and larger jobs. Submissions are currently reviewed and forwarded manually rather than through automated contractor notifications, since the goal at this stage is a good match, not volume.

Questions or corrections

If something on this site is out of date — especially grant or rebate details, which change fastest — or you're a contractor interested in being part of the matching pool, get in touch directly and note what it's about.