Statewide Cross-Theme Accomplishments
Statewide Cross-Theme Accomplishments
The Colorado State Forest Service works with partners to implement strategies that accomplish multiple goals across the six themes in the 2020 Colorado Forest Action Plan.
Explore these accomplishments toward statewide, cross-theme resource strategies.
CSFS Experiential Learning Program
From 2020 through 2024, the CSFS hosted 55 summer interns through its Experiential Learning Program, growing the program from three interns in 2020 to 19 interns in 2024. Also in 2024, the CSFS expanded the program that was historically only open to undergraduate students at Colorado State University’s Warner College of Natural Resources to include students from Front Range Community College. Interns have supported diverse activities within the CSFS, including forest management, wildfire mitigation, nursery operations, GIS and information technology, outreach and education, communications and more.
Updated Data on Treatment Costs Per Acre
Colorado Forest Atlas
The Colorado Forest Atlas serves as a one-stop shop to access statewide geospatial data and information related to wildfire risk, forestry and natural resources. From 2020 through 2024, the Colorado Forest Atlas had 1,865 active users, generating 44,000 views of the Wildfire Risk Viewer app and 8,300 views of the Wildfire Risk Reduction Planner app.
In addition, the CSFS launched two new apps within the Colorado Forest Atlas: an internal Geotracks app to facilitate agency-wide tracking and reporting of accomplishments, and a Forest Action Plan app to provide access to data and maps for the six themes in the 2020 Colorado Forest Action Plan. Users can generate county-level reports in the Forest Action Plan app to assist with local planning and implementation.
Collaborations in Applied Research
The CSFS partnered with many organizations over the past five years to conduct joint research projects and deliver the best available science for forest health and management. These projects include the Colorado forest carbon framework , a collaboration with the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory at Colorado State University, CalFire and the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station; advances in using drones to collect pre- and post-treatment data with the USDA Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Research Station; and a Colorado woody biomass assessment with collaborators at CSU and the RMRS.
New Communications Tools
In 2022, the CSFS launched the Science & Data Bytes series of online articles to communicate important insights from its projects and applied research to a broader audience. For example, these articles have been used in the development of coursework at Colorado State University. Topics so far include carbon accounting, the Colorado Wildfire Risk Assessment, carbon offsets and climate adaptation, among others.
In addition, the CSFS created the Forests FM podcast in 2024 to share the voices and sounds of forest management in Colorado. Hosted by CSFS Director Matt McCombs, the podcast has covered topics ranging from grassland wildfire to winter tree care to forest health.