The new reality of life in the WUI
The wildland-urban interface. Darker colors represent increased wildfire risk. The area outlined in blue is within two miles of Coal Creek. Image from the Colorado Forest Atlas by the Colorado State Forest Service.
That’s the wildland-urban interface (pronounced WOO-ey) – the zones where development bumps up against or occurs within open spaces or grasslands. And yes, parts of each Coal Creek town is in the WUI and the entirety of each town is within two miles of it.
The WUI is of interest of late because of wildfire; these areas are considered the most at-risk for wildfire, as this community has recently experienced.
As you’ve no doubt heard by now, the high plains prairie (where we live) is adapted to a natural fire cycle. In many cases here, the vegetation requires a periodic fire to refresh growth and create spaces within vegetation layer. The problem is that our houses, built by-and-large of combustible materials, are not.
So the statewide wildland firefighting effort is not about preventing fire in the WUI – that would lead to a dangerous build-up of fuels and creates risk that a normal, fast-moving, cool-burning grassfire would become something much worse. Rather than prevention, it’s all about preparation.
All residents within the WUI should acknowledge the implicit risk in their siting and take steps to create what’s called a fire-defensible space around their homes. Fire-wise landscaping has a few core principles:
No vegetation within 5 feet of the house.
Selecting landscape plants based on the flammability index.
Firebreaks built into the landscape plan.
Avoidance of ladder fuels, which lift the fire from the ground to the treetops and roofs.
Luckily, thanks to the beauty and resilience of our native plants, the areas around our homes and businesses can still be beautiful. Start here for a good list of native plants that work well in Colorado landscapes, improve habitat value for pollinators and score high on the inflammability index (high is good).
For a more indepth look at landscaping in the WUI, attend one of our free, expert-led workshops.
Free fire-wise gardening workshops in 2025
April 8, 2025, 5:30-7PM, Louisville Rec Center. RSVP here
April 22, 2023, 6-730PM, Lafayette Public Library. RSVP here
The workshop is geared toward DIY gardeners who want to take on a season-size project to increase the fire-defensibility of their landscape. All participants will leave with a fire-wise planting template and everyone who attends is eligible for a random drawing for five, 50-plant kits that follow the fire-wise template.
