As a science center of the U.S. Geological Survey, we develop and disseminate research-based information and tools needed for understanding the Nation’s biological resources in support of effective decision making.
Faced with the complexities and growing urgency of natural resource issues, land and resource managers need information that is accurate, current, and usable. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Fort Collins Science Center (FORT) in Colorado fulfills this need by providing sound scientific data and technical assistance to Department of the Interior bureaus and other natural resource agencies.
Read more about our capabilities and services in our FORT brochure.
The Fort Collins Science Center has been a U.S. Geological Survey research center since 1996. From 1993 to 1996 our Center was a part of the National Biological Service (NBS). During that time the Center comprised numerous field stations and science functions that prior to 1993 had been scattered among agencies of the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), including the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, National Park Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In 1993, certain biological research components of these agencies were assigned to join with the Center (then named the National Ecology Research Center), formerly one of the major research and development hubs of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. That same year, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt consolidated biological resources research within DOI into the NBS. Soon after the new agency was formed, the Center was re-named the Midcontinent Ecological Science Center due to its geographic location within the Midcontinent administrative region of the NBS. When the NBS was dissolved in 1996, its cadre of federal biologists became the Biological Resources Discipline of the USGS, also an Interior agency. We adopted our current name, the Fort Collins Science Center (“FORT”), in conjunction with our move in 2002 to new facilities on the Natural Resources Research Center campus (described below).
—Adapted from Tom O’Shea, History of the Fort Collins Science Center U.S. Geological Survey
The Fort Collins Science Center headquarters building is located on the Natural Resources Research Center (NRRC) campus in Fort Collins, Colorado. The 30-acre NRRC campus employs more than 1,000 natural resource professionals in 5 office buildings and a shared fabrication shop on property leased from Colorado State University (CSU). Developed to support and enhance research on natural resources issues, the NRRC is a partnership among CSU, the U.S. General Services Administration, and six Federal agencies from the Department of Agriculture and Department of the Interior. The NRRC collocation of agencies facilitates joint research opportunities, provides for shared resources, and enhances collaboration with the university's academic community.
We invite you to browse “FORTWeb” to learn more about our staff, science, products, science features, and news. If you have questions, we'd be happy to address them; you can reach us by visiting Contact Us or by clicking on the AskFORT link at the bottom of every page on our site. We will ensure that your message reaches the person who can best respond to it.
U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://www.fort.usgs.gov/About/default.asp
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