Supportive of Precautionary Shutdown

We live surrounded by Arapahoe Roosevelt National Forest near Highway 72 and between Nederland and Ward. We have lived there for 28 years and been Xcel customers for that period of time. We have 42 acres and annually tend to those acres with forestry techniques meant to a) reduce risk for catastrophic fire; b) promote healthy, bio-diverse flora (mix of spruce, fir, pine, aspen, etc.); c) generate forestry products. We are also very conscious of thinning trees around and near the multiple structures on our property in order to create Fire Wise zones.

Even with all the work we have done over the years, the extreme winds of the 4/6-4/8 weekend caused 4 mature lodgepole to topple, roots up, just within 150 feet of our primary and secondary cabins. We have yet to survey the rest of our property, but have no doubt that we will find more toppled or topped trees. Given that Xcel power lines serving us and our neighbors run partly through our property, we are very supportive that Xcel took the precautionary step of shutting off power.

We are ever conscious that we (and all our mountain and Front Range neighbors) live at constant risk of catastrophic wildfire. We had a personal experience with the Cold Spring Fire and have been evacuated numerous times since moving up to our cabin at 9,000 feet. We are fully supportive of a "Better Safe Than Sorry" approach to shutting off power whenever wind and aridity forecasts signal increasing risk. We consider ourselves lucky and privileged to live in the mountains and will happily trade occasional power outages for continuing to be surrounded by live trees and a healthy landscape.