Twenty years ago, the forested slopes above Alpine Acres — a small community at the source of the Weber River in Summit County, Utah — were overgrown with dry brush and primed for wildfire. With only one road in and out, residents feared their community could be engulfed by the next catastrophic blaze — the same deadly trap people found themselves in during the Paradise and Lahaina wildfires.

But today, the landscape looks markedly different.  

The dense stands of trees and bushes have been replaced by a more open forest with meadows and cleared strips of land, known as fuel breaks, designed to slow or stop wildfires. By removing excess vegetation that serves as fuel for fire along the access road and around private properties, state officials have improved evacuation safety and reduced the risk of homes burning.  

“We’re one of the very first Firewise communities in the state of Utah,” said Jim Warburton, a longtime resident of Alpine Acres. “Firewise means you’re aware of how fire could start on your property and in the whole community. When we first built houses up here, people weren’t thinking about that and some even had wooden shingle roofs. But gradually, people started to change how they build and maintain their land.” 

Jim Warburton, a longtime resident of Alpine Acres, speaks in front of an aspen grove on his property.
Jim Warburton, a longtime resident of Alpine Acres, speaks in front of an aspen grove on his property. Photo by Natasha Collins/WRI 
Jim’s house lies tucked in the forests of northern Utah.
Jim’s house lies tucked in the forests of northern Utah. The fuel reduction treatment in the foreground is designed to reduce the density of trees around his home and to slow the spread of a fire if one were to occur. Photo by Natasha Collins/WRI. 

“At first, people were hesitant to let us work on their land,” said Travis Wright, a coordinator at the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, a state agency that works with landowners to manage fire risk. “But now, they see the results and they’re calling us, asking when we can come back.”

These changes came from a multiyear collaboration in which state agencies worked with landowners to educate and support fire resilience programs on their land. Crucially, this sort of work can happen faster and on a greater scale than before thanks to a new funding model, the Utah Resilience Fund (URF). Invented and deployed by a coalition of partners including Summit County, World Resources Institute, the U.S. Forest Service and others, the fund is reshaping how Utah manages wildfire risk and water security.

A Fund to Address Catastrophic Wildfire Risk at Scale 

For decades, wildfire funding in the U.S. has typically been reactive, mobilizing resources only after fires ignite. In Utah alone, fire suppression topped $28 million in 2024 with the state shouldering about a quarter of that cost. Yet states could actually save money in the long run by investing upfront in forest restoration. This investment can avoid the devastating economic and human toll of catastrophic fires while also creating more jobs, recreation and water security.  

That’s where the Utah Resilience Fund comes in. Founded in 2020, it brings together public, private and philanthropic partners to take proactive steps, before disaster strikes. So far, the URF has raised more than $8.4 million for faster, more flexible funding for restoration on both public and private lands, ensuring forest and watershed health treatments complement each other across boundaries. Beyond meeting urgent short-term needs, it also sets some funds aside in an income-generating endowment to help sustain this work over the long term.

The Utah Resilience Fund Model

“The way we look at it now is to get ahead of the potential wildfire that we know is coming,” said Dano Jauregui, district ranger for the Heber-Kamas Ranger District of the U.S. Forest Service. “It costs far less to prepare the landscape upfront than to try to control or suppress a large fire later.” 

From the Weber Headwaters to the Great Salt Lake 

Improved wildfire resilience does not just protect homes from flames. It also safeguards Utah’s most precious resource — water. Catastrophic wildfire can send ash, sediment and chemical contaminants into the reservoirs, reducing storage capacity and threatening drinking water supplies. Overly dense and fire-prone forests can also draw down groundwater levels, leading to reduced water availability. 

The upper Weber River flows through the community of Alpine Acres.
The upper Weber River flows through the community of Alpine Acres. Photo by James Anderson/WRI. 

The Fire and Water Nexus 

In Utah, and much of the Western U.S., forests historically experienced regular, low-intensity fires that naturally cleared underbrush and maintained ecosystem balance. Decades of fire suppression (putting out fires immediately), combined with higher temperatures and prolonged drought, have disrupted this natural cycle. Forests are now overgrown with dense vegetation and dead trees, creating fuel for high-intensity wildfire. These types of wildfires scorch and damage soil, send sediment downstream and ultimately degrade water quality.

To restore balance, land managers use forest thinning (selectively removing smaller and unhealthy trees), prescribed burns (carefully applying fire to a landscape), and other techniques to reduce accumulated fuel, lower wildfire risk and protect the watersheds that provide clean water downstream. Innovative financial mechanisms such as the Utah Resilience Fund and the Forest Resilience Bond help to pay for this work upfront, enabling faster, larger-scale restoration.   

For more information, see Forest Management FAQ and URF FAQ.

This is especially true in Utah, the second driest state in the country, where many forested headwaters lie in high wildfire risk zones. A core area where the URF is accelerating wildfire risk reduction is across the Weber River watershed. Originating in the snow-fed headwaters of the Uinta Mountains, the Weber flows through a mosaic of public and private lands, before draining into the Great Salt Lake, a region of immense economic and ecological importance.

A watershed (also called a drainage basin or catchment) is an area of land where rain and snowmelt flow from higher ground to join into streams and rivers, and eventually drain into a larger water body, such as a reservoir or ocean. 

The river provides drinking water to over 700,000 Utahns in Summit, Morgan, Weber and Davis counties through the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District (WBWCD), the primary water supplier for much of northern Utah. Several reservoirs fed by the Weber River, surrounded by forests, are managed by the district.    

The Weber River begins in the Uinta mountains where communities like Alpine Acres sit at its source.
The Weber River begins in the Uinta mountains where communities like Alpine Acres sit at its source. The river flows downstream, supplying water to multiple reservoirs and serving communities such as Park City. Downstream, the river eventually flows to the Hill Air Force Base and recharges the Great Salt Lake. Illustration by John Wamagata Nduru/WRI. 

Working Across Fences: Private Lands Play a Role

Utah, like many Western states, hosts vast areas of land managed by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and other federal agencies. Over the next decade, the USFS plans to treat 14,000 acres in the upper Weber watershed. This work will include creating a network of fuel breaks and thinning projects to reduce fire intensity and improve ecological health.

But treating federal lands alone isn’t enough. Fire doesn’t respect administrative boundaries, and real wildfire risk reduction requires cross boundary treatments that include restoring the surrounding private lands. The URF helps make this possible through funding adjacent fuel reduction projects in communities such as Alpine Acres, and further downstream, the 910 Ranch.  

Once a working sheep ranch established in the late 1800s, this 8,500-acre property straddles the source of East Canyon Creek, a key tributary of the Weber River, and is one of the last contiguous mountain ranches in the Park City area. Through the Forest Legacy Program, a federal grant program to protect lands from development, Summit County and partners recently secured the land’s permanent protection. This ensures this tract of land will continue to preserve the forests and meadows that safeguard water supplies. 

The historic Jeremy cabin sits on the 910 Cattle Ranch in front of rolling hills.
The historic Jeremy cabin sits on the 910 Cattle Ranch in front of rolling hills. This 8,500-acre property was recently purchased and put under protection from development by Summit County. Photo by Natasha Collins/WRI. 

“At first glance, the ranch looks pristine, but when you start digging in, you see places where we can really heal the land,” said Jess Kirby, Summit County’s lands and natural resources director.  

The URF is now supporting restoration and fuels reduction on the ranch to improve wildlife habitat and reduce fire risk. In forested areas, crews have thinned dense conifer stands across 73 acres to reduce fuel loads and create a mosaic of openings that function as natural fire breaks. All these piles of conifers will be burned this winter, and debris along road corridors has already been chipped to improve safe access for emergency personnel.   

Stacked piles of trees and brush
Stacked piles of trees and brush that have been thinned during a fuel reduction project on 910 Ranch to reduce wildfire risk and improve forest health. Photo by James Anderson/WRI. 

Wildfire resilience and downstream water security also require ecologically healthy waterways and wetlands, which act as natural fire breaks and help to filter water supplies. In the valley of the 910 Ranch, additional work is restoring the riverbanks to improve fish habitat and downstream water quality.  

“We’ve started replanting vegetation along East Canyon Creek, building cattle exclusion fences and putting in beaver dam analogs to restore the natural water flow and rebuild the streambanks,” said Kirby.  

Partners such as Trout Unlimited and local volunteers, with funding from Summit County and the Caterpillar Foundation, have planted over 700 willows and dozens of cottonwood trees. This has helped stabilize eroding banks and provide shade for stretches of East Canyon Creek that had been grazed for more than a century. The team is also testing the reintroduction of beaver-inspired habitat systems to hold more water in the soil and extend flows through dry summer months.

For Kirby, the project is deeply personal. Having lost her home in Colorado’s 2001 Hayman Fire, she views the 910 Ranch as a generational investment in stewardship.

“This ranch is a legacy piece,” she said. “With the help of partnerships, this is going to be the biggest thing I’ll do in my career. It connects nearly 55,000 acres of protected land from Park City into Morgan County. When my grandkids come here someday, they’re going to say, ‘Look what Grandma helped do.’” 

Video: "Utah Pioneers a New Model for Wildfire Resilience"

The Path Forward: Building a Model for the West

The URF shows that proactive investment in wildfire resilience can protect forests and communities upstream, while benefiting those downstream. The Fund is already expanding beyond the Weber River watershed into the Jordan watershed, which directly supplies water to Salt Lake City and feeds the Great Salt Lake.

Map showing the Weber, Jordan and Bear River basins
The Weber, Jordan and Bear River basins are three major watersheds draining into the Great Salt Lake where the Utah Resilience Fund plans to scale its work. 

Looking ahead, partners aim to grow a $10 million endowment to ensure lasting support in watershed and wildfire resilience. Future projects include expanding treatments on private lands, implementing management plans for the 910 Ranch and scaling the Fund’s model across the Wasatch and Uinta ranges, creating a blueprint for other Western states facing similar wildfire and water challenges.

The vision is clear: Roll out a replicable, landscape-scale approach that crosses jurisdiction and politics, linking upstream mountain communities to downstream cities and ecosystems — stretching from Alpine Acres all the way to the Great Salt Lake. 

Learn more about the Utah Resilience Fund at our project page and via the Forest Management FAQs and Utah Resilience Fund FAQs. Together, we can protect Utah’s forests, water and future.