State Forest Service names headquarters for Tom Borden

The Colorado State Forest Service celebrated its 50th anniversary with a dedication of its new headquarters on Oct. 13 at the Colorado State University Foothills campus. The new building was named for the agency's director emeritus, Thomas B. Borden, who led the agency from 1959 to 1984.

Borden's successor as state forester, Jim Hubbard, credited Borden with working with the state legislature to make the state's forestry program part of CSU in 1965. The retired forester lives north of Fort Collins and actively pursues his passion for trees at the Borden Memorial Forest, a 70-acre site in Rist Canyon. The acreage is dedicated to future generations as a model of proper forest management.

As state forester, Borden "redefined public service and outreach," Hubbard said. "He became nationally recognized as an advocate for forestry."

Today, the CSFS is a "modest, confident, flexible but get-it-done organization," said Hubbard, who left the CSFS a year ago for a position in Washington, D.C., as director of the Office of Wildland Fire Coordination with the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Borden, current Colorado State Forester Jeff Jahnke and CSU President Larry Penley opened the building with a ceremonial tree planting of Colorado's state tree, a blue spruce. The CSFS provides stewardship of forest resources and reduces related risks to life, property and the environment. The agency also plays a pivotal role in securing grant money for landowners to reduce wildfire hazards.

The agency's move from Colorado State's main campus to the Foothills Campus on Laporte Avenue west of Overland Trail allows the CSFS headquarters to be co-located with its fire equipment shop and its seedling tree nursery, as well as with one of its 17 field offices. The agency's fire equipment shop fabricates trucks for wildland firefighting in Colorado. Its nursery grows more than two million tree and shrub seedlings every year for conservation.

"The move not only made internal communications more streamlined, it also made it easier for our partners to meet with us at one location. It's one-stop shopping now," said Judy Serby, the CSFS conservation education division supervisor.

The Colorado State Forest Service's 135 employees work out of 18 offices across the state, including its headquarters.