Environmental Rules in Pitkin County, CO (2026)

Flood Zones

Pitkin County, Colorado regulates floodplain development under the Pitkin County Land Use Code, primarily Section 7-20-40 (Floodplain) and Section 7-20-80 (River and Stream Corridors and Wetlands), administered by the Pitkin County Community Development Department. Unincorporated Pitkin County participates in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) under FEMA Community Identification Number 080287. The county adopted updated countywide Flood Insurance Rate Maps on August 14, 2019, replacing maps that had been in place since the late 1980s after a multi-year FEMA Risk MAP study of the Roaring Fork watershed. Special Flood Hazard Areas are mapped along the Roaring Fork River, Crystal River, Fryingpan River, Castle Creek, Maroon Creek, Hunter Creek, and other tributaries draining the central Colorado mountains, where steep terrain and high-elevation snowmelt produce high-velocity flood risk.