US forest service

Avalanches are quite common in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains . They can occur anywhere there is a sizeable amount of snow and steep slopes, meaning most of Colorado’s High Country (from 10,000 to 13,000 feet) is prone to avalanches. The massive snow slides are extremely dangerous; between 1859 and...

The Cameron Peak Fire is the largest wildfire in Colorado history. It began on August 13, 2020, and burned 208,913 acres of the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests in western Larimer County . Thought to be human-caused, the fire ignited on the flanks of Cameron Peak some forty miles west of Fort...

From the tall, straight lodgepole pines in the high Rockies to the short, gnarled piñons that guard the state’s canyons and grasslands , coniferous trees dominate Colorado’s natural environments and hold together important ecosystems. Commonly referred to as pines or evergreens, coniferous trees...

Ignited by lightning in early June 2012, the High Park Fire became one of the largest and most destructive wildfires in Colorado history, burning 87,415 acres along the Cache la Poudre River in the mountains west of Fort Collins . By the time it was fully contained on June 30, the High Park Fire...

The Missionary Ridge Fire began on June 9, 2002, northeast of Durango in southwest Colorado. It burned until July 15, destroying forty-six houses and cabins and charring 73,000 acres of La Plata County forest. One firefighter died while fighting the blaze, which became the seventh-largest wildfire...

The Public Lands History Center (PLHC) is a special unit of the History Department at Colorado State University in Fort Collins . Since 2007 it has partnered with students, communities, and land management agencies of all types to document the history of the nation’s public lands. While the PLHC’s...

Developed primarily between 1919 and 1924, the Squirrel Creek Recreation District in the San Isabel National Forest near Pueblo was one of the earliest recreational developments in a national forest and served as a model for many others to come. The recreation district is also notable for its...

Colorado enjoys a proud public lands heritage and a prominent place in US Forest Service (USFS) history. The state hosts many of the first forests reserved under federal law, which today are some of the most popular destinations within the national forest system. Origins ...