The Colorado State Forest Service has recognized Eric Howell with its Partner of the Year award for 2020.
Howell is the Forest Program Manager for Colorado Springs Utilities and the Deputy Administrator for the Colorado Springs Utilities Catamount Wildland Fire Team.
The CSFS recognized Howell as its Partner of the Year for his exceptional assistance in fostering healthy forests in Colorado through communications, outreach and support of the CSFS’s goals, strategic priorities and mission. His work with Colorado Springs Utilities contributes to stewardship of diverse forest environments in the state. He is heavily engaged in several forest management partnerships with federal, state and local governments as well as nonprofits working at a landscape level to protect critical watersheds, infrastructure and communities in areas of Colorado where Colorado Springs derives its community water supplies.
“I am honored to nominate Eric Howell as the CSFS Partner of the Year,” said Andy Schlosberg, supervisory forester in the CSFS Woodland Park Field Office. “I have worked with Eric for his entire career with Colorado Springs Utilities, and I am proud to know him as a colleague, a partner and a friend. The City of Colorado Springs, the citizens of Colorado, the CSFS and all involved in land management are better off thanks to his service.”
Most recently, Howell has been working with the local U.S. Forest Service ranger district on completion of the Catamount Project, a Colorado Springs Utilities-funded effort to mitigate the wildfire risk to hundreds of critical acres of the forests surrounding Colorado Springs Catamount reservoirs on Pikes Peak. Working in partnership with the CSFS, he has facilitated thousands of acres of mitigation work on the Pikes Peak watershed. In addition, the recently created Front Range Good Neighbor Authority (GNA) and soon-to-be approved Pikes Peak GNA among the CSFS, USFS, and Colorado Springs Utilities are a direct result of Howell’s efforts.
The award was presented virtually at the CSFS’s Annual Meeting last month.
“This is a big award and I truly appreciate the value of the partnership we have. It’s been a really awesome experience. I can’t say enough good things about the partners,” said Howell upon receiving the award.
For more information about Howell’s work with the CSFS, please contact Schlosberg at (719) 687-2921 or Andy.Scholsberg@colostate.edu.
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The Colorado State Forest Service (CSFS) provides professional forestry assistance, wildfire mitigation expertise and outreach and education to help landowners and communities achieve their forest management goals. The CSFS is a service and outreach agency of the Warner College of Natural Resources at Colorado State University and provides staffing for the Division of Forestry within the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. For more information, visit csfs.colostate.edu.