USGS Science Center Dedicates New Facilities, Hosts Central Region Open House

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Fort Collins Science Center (FORT) got a new name and a new home this past July. Formerly the Midcontinent Ecological Science Center, FORT joined partners from the Department of Agriculture when it relocated to the Natural Resources Research Campus (NRRC) at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. The NRRC was established to support and enhance cooperative research on natural resource issues. It is a partnership of six federal agencies from the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior, the U.S. General Services Administration, and Colorado State University (CSU). When completed in 2004, the campus will consist of six buildings housing more than 1,200 natural resource professionals.

To celebrate the move, FORT hosted a dedication ceremony and the USGS Central Region Open House on August 23, 2002. U.S. Senator Wayne Allard, USGS Director Chip Groat, CSU President Albert C. Yates, and others involved in the collocation effort spoke to an audience of 360 USGS employees, partners, customers, and stakeholders invited to the dedication ceremony. Featured in the speakers' comments were the interdisciplinary science and partnerships made possible by the collocation of the USGS and its Department of Agriculture counterparts on one campus. In referring to the shared visions of federal and university researchers, Yates remarked, "The possibilities for collaboration are limitless."

Left to Right: U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, FORT Director Doug Posson, USGS Director Chip Groat, and FORT Assistant Director Duane Asherin.

Tours of the new headquarters building highlighted the greatly increased capabilities for FORT scientists to conduct research and develop technical applications to assist land managers in understanding and managing biological resources and ecosystems. There and in the fabrication shop, which FORT shares with the USDA Agriculture Research Service, over 70 exhibits featured the work of FORT and Central Region scientists and their partners. Exhibits covered the depth and breadth of USGS science, including fire science, invasive species, aquatic systems research and modeling, technology applications such as decision support systems and spatially enabled information systems, at-risk species and habitats, social science applications, international applied and comparative ecology, ecosystem dynamics and landscape change, water and drought, earth processes, and mapping applications.

FORT conducts its science with a staff of more than 110 federal employees and a support services contract of more than 40 professionals. Most staff are based at the headquarters in Fort Collins, but to extend cooperative opportunities, several are collocated at the Natural Resources Ecology Laboratory at Colorado State University; the Rocky Mountain Center for Conservation Genetics and Systematics at the University of Denver; the Arid Lands Field Station at the University of New Mexico; the Jemez Mountains Field Station at Bandelier National Monument; and the Bureau of Reclamation's Technical Services Center in Denver.

This year, the USGS tested a new approach to the open house concept, one that targeted current and potential USGS partners, customers, and cooperators. These included natural resource professionals at various levels of government, staff and students from science and engineering departments of nearby universities, lawmakers, conservation organizations, and other stakeholders. Seven hundred people turned out for the combined events to learn about USGS science, share ideas, and plant the seeds for new cooperative efforts.

Also at FORT: USGS Open House Photo Gallery

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For more information, contact:

Juliette Wilson

Photos by Joseph Kerski and Charles Lynch