Sara Sandstrom-Kobi, Peak to Peak. If you asked me if I knew someone who loves to study and spend time in the forests of Colorado, I would say that I do, she is Ashley Garrison. 

Ashley is a Forester with the Colorado State Forest Service. She grew up outside of Ward, where her parents Gary and Debbie Garrison still live today. Ashley has always been drawn to the trees that surrounded her home. 

From Kindergarten through 12th grade Ashley attended Nederland schools. Hers was the first class to go through the new elementary school. She graduated from Nederland High School in 2003.

Ashley says that the extended learning weeks that she participated in at Nederland Middle Senior High School (NMSHS) helped shape the career she has today. These learning weeks took kids on camping trips to places like Canyonlands, Arches and Mesa Verde National Parks. The students had to plan and design the adventures. Great lessons in organization and teamwork. Ashely was also very involved in the music and theater programs at NMSHS.

Ashley attended Colorado State University and earned a degree in Natural Resource Management and Forestry. She also spent some time in the Peace Corps working in Gambia, a county in West Africa. 

These Colorado forests called her back home and she found herself back in Boulder County. She worked for the Boulder County Parks and Open Space for several years. Now she is with the State Forest Service and is based in Breckenridge in Summit County. 

She spends much of her time working with Federal partners as well as private landowners. She helps educate private landowners on how to mange their forest land. Part of managing the forests is mitigation and studying and taking inventory of the forest structure and forest health. 

The forest system is a dynamic system. Ashley and her colleges are constantly studying this complex and every changing system. They study the different species and see that we need to have a better mix of trees and age of trees to have better forest health. They also study forest density, diseases and funguses. Better forest health means better relationships within the natural world. It is about creating a balance, and when you add a growing population of people there is more work to be done to keep the forests and people safe and healthy. 

Ashley’s work with the State Forest Service is very diverse. She enjoys setting up projects and working with youth corps in the forests. She works with Geographic Information System mapping and she loves applying the research and science to learn more about the forest health. This even includes studying the water quality in forests, utilizing forest products and of course wildfires. 

Recently, Ashley was recognized by her peers and received the 2020 Young Forester Leadership Award from the Colorado-Wyoming Society of American Foresters (SAF). Her expertise, leadership and ability to form partnerships with landowners for the betterment of the forests has earned her respect from her colleges and garnered this honor. She also has helped create a social media presence for SAF to share their message of forest health.

Ashley Garrison, native to the Peak to Peak region, is a steward of the earth and more specifically a steward of our forests. She is passionate about learning about our forest environment and educating the public so we can become better caretakers of our land. 

(Originally published in the July 30, 2020, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)