The Colorado State Forest Service faces several critical issues, including forest conditions, wildland fire and the wildland-urban interface (WUI), political and administrative changes, and funding.

Critical Issues

Forest Conditions

Forests throughout Colorado are ready to regenerate through large-scale disturbance, primarily insects, disease and wildfire. The proximity of people, homes and communities to many of these forests makes a catastrophic wildfire or pest epidemic event unacceptable in terms of public protection and values.

The challenge for land managers and other public officials is to prioritize where, when and how to treat these landscapes in order to reduce risks to communities and/or promote ecological resiliency. Cross-boundary coordination at a landscape scale is often needed to ensure treatments are effective.

Land management success also depends on local citizens who are well-informed regarding current forest conditions, understand treatment options and are supportive of prescribed actions. Several years of severe drought across Colorado, accompanied by record-setting wildfires and fast-moving insect infestations, have raised the profile of these issues in many communities.

The interest in and demand for credible forestry information and technical assistance is high. The Colorado State Forest Service (CSFS) is well suited to address these citizen needs and to maximize the opportunity to implement effective land management on the ground.

Wildland Fire & the Wildland-Urban Interface

The dramatic increase in Colorado's wildland fire activity over the past decade has precipitated an equally dramatic rise in the fire-related responsibilities and program emphases of the Colorado State Forest Service. The agency's traditional role has been to work with local governments and rural and volunteer fire departments to strengthen local preparedness and suppression capability.

In recent years, CSFS personnel also have become heavily engaged in active wildfire suppression, both locally and with interagency incident management teams; in state level coordination of preparedness resources and cross-boundary mitigation activities; in facilitation of emergency funding and reimbursement through the Governor's Office and FEMA; in fire prevention and related fire education efforts; and in the expanding administrative workload that accompanies each of these activities.

Urban development in wildland areas presents the CSFS with additional fire-related challenges in terms of public protection and land management. At least 1 million people currently reside in Colorado's high-risk Red Zone.

Protecting these residents from wildfire requires individual responsibility, as well as interagency mitigation, preparedness and suppression. Community wildfire protection planning offers the most promising opportunity to address the WUI challenge because it brings together diverse local interests to discuss their mutual concerns for public safety, community sustainability and natural resources

Forest conditions will continue to support large-scale wildland fire into the future and increasing numbers of people will continue to move into wildland settings. These factors, combined with a shift at the national level toward all-hazard incident response, means the CSFS likely will face continued demand for leadership and coordination in the area of wildland fire.

Political & Administrative Change

The Colorado State Forest Service is accountable to and influenced by several institutions in which political and administrative change is frequent. Solid external relationships, backed by agency credibility and consistent quality service, are essential to operating successfully in this environment.

As an agency of Colorado State University, the CSFS must comply with university business practices, maintain positive relationships with university administrators, and ensure that university officials understand the important role that CSFS plays despite its non-traditional position within the academic system.

With the establishment of the Division of Forestry in 2000, the CSFS also became more closely linked with the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. This new relationship, combined with increasing wildfire needs, has resulted in closer and more critical ties between the CSFS and the governor's office and staff.

Other key relationships include federal land management agencies (many of whom have oversight for CSFS grant programs), state legislators, county sheriffs and local fire chiefs, as well as other local, state and national partners. The term limits that affect many of these positions mean that maintaining strong relationships requires consistent attention over the long-term.

Funding

The Colorado State Forest Service delivers a diverse range of programs and services using a mix of federal and state dollars. State funds are either self-generated or appropriated from the state general fund. Federal funds are tied to specific requirements outlined by Congress and many involve cost-sharing and other grant programs that pass money on to private landowners and other non-federal entities. All funds are received and distributed through the business and administrative systems of Colorado State University.

The agency's particular combination of funding sources means that annual changes in budgets and appropriations priorities at the state and federal levels have a direct affect on the agency's ability to implement programs. Currently, the greatest challenge in Colorado revolves around the limitations imposed by mandatory spending programs and the Tax Payer's Bill of Rights (TABOR).

All discretionary state programs are subject to elimination as TABOR spending limits are reached and available dollars are directed to programs with statutorily mandated funding. Higher education is poised to absorb a disproportionate share of these cuts.

At the federal level, challenges include increased scrutiny and oversight from both Congress and the Office of Management and Budget; large fire costs that threaten and dominate federal program funding and priorities; and changing federal program approaches that result in regional allocation shifts.

Given this operating environment, the CSFS must maintain the relationships and business practices necessary to sustain a mix and level of funding that enables the agency to provide meaningful public service and deliver on strategic priorities. The CSFS also must remain flexible in responding to changing financial situations and public demands.