Colorado — The U.S. Forest Service is proposing an array of logging, hazardous fuel mitigation work and wildlife habitat improvements on the southern part of the Uncompahgre Plateau, with a chief goal of reducing the risk of large-scale wildfires on a landscape being affected by a changing climate. The Norwood and Ouray ranger districts of the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison (GMUG) national forests have begun accepting public comment on the draft environmental assessment for the South Uncompahgre Hazardous Fuels and Ecological Resiliency project. The project area encompasses some 267,300 acres, mostly on the plateau, in Montrose, Ouray and San Miguel counties, reaching almost to Mesa County. That area includes about 245,000 acres of national forest land. Most work would occur on national forest land, but where projects occur next to private land, opportunities for cross-boundary work would be explored.