The newly created Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife promises a new frontier for two state agencies with deep-rooted identities, led by a modern frontiersman selected last week to guide a potentially challenging transition.
It would be premature and presumptuous to attempt to outline Rick Cables’ plans for the newly created division within the Department of Natural Resources, although it’s widely perceived that the new director of Parks and Wildlife (DPW) will have his work cut out for him. Anyone would.
Cables and the Colorado Wildlife Commission will have less than a year to shape the new 880-employee division uniting the existing Colorado Division of Wildlife and Colorado State Parks before presenting it to the state General Assembly for approval in 2012. The initial merger approved by state lawmakers and signed into law June 6 by Gov. John Hickenlooper aims to trim the budget and increase efficiency by streamlining the two agencies. But without any defined structure, the merger has faced opposition from sportsmen’s groups fearing the failure of Colorado’s highly regarded DOW.
As the regional forester for the U.S. Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Region, Cables is accustomed to controversy, however, as well as success. The region is mired in a rewrite of a plan to protect remaining roadless national forest land in Colorado, drawing opposition from some environmental and sportsmen’s groups during a comment period extending through July 14.
Whether Cables’ decision to take on a new role starting July 1 was influenced by the six-year debate is largely irrelevant, since he may well be leaping from the frying pan to the fire. During the simmering stage, though, he managed to attract some significant attention.
“Rick Cables brings an accomplished career of conservation success, much of it in the West, to this critical role leading our new Parks and Wildlife division,” Mike King, executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, said in a news release. “We are fortunate to have a person with his conservation values, management talent and wealth of experience with Western landscapes taking the helm of this new agency.”
Without yet having had the opportunity to speak with Cables about his new role, here is some of the background that brought him to this point.
Serving as the regional forester of the Rocky Mountain Region since 2001, Cables has been responsible for the administration of more than 22 million acres in 17 national forests and seven national grasslands, and cooperative efforts with state and private landowners in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and eastern Wyoming.
The Pueblo native graduated from Northern Arizona University forestry school in 1976. After serving on several national forests in New Mexico and Arizona, he served two years in the Washington office before attending the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., in 1989 and 1990.
In 1990, Cables was promoted to forest supervisor of the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire and Maine. In 1995, he became the forest supervisor of the Pike and San Isabel national forests and Comanche and Cimarron national grasslands in Colorado and Kansas. Before his current forestry position, he was regional forester of the Alaska Region, covering the Tongass and Chugach national forests.
“I feel privileged to be joining the remarkable professionals of the newly created Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife,” Cables said in the news release. “Their passion, professionalism and dedication to Colorado’s wildlife and state parks make our wonderful state even more special. I’m very excited to pursue this new challenge. To my friends in the U.S. Forest Service, an agency that I love, I thank you for the experience and look forward to advancing Colorado’s con- servation heritage.”
Scott Willoughby: 303-954-1993 or swilloughby@denverpost.com
