IDAHO SPRINGS, Colo. – U.S. Forest Service (USFS) staff on the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland (ARP) welcome Penny Wu, the new ranger for the Clear Creek Ranger District. Wu, currently serving the Dolores Ranger District on the San Juan National Forest, will be stationed in Idaho Springs, Colo. starting Sept. 16.

Wu has an extensive background in recreation management and has worked successfully with a wide array of public agencies, private interest groups and stakeholders on complex management issues. Over the last several years Wu has worked closely with local municipalities and county commissioners as well as state, environmental and trail organizations on a variety of public lands issues including travel management planning.

During her tenure on the San Juan National Forest, Wu oversaw a complex recreation program under the Service First Initiative which combines management responsibilities for both the Bureau of Land Management and the USFS. Her dual-agency recreation program covered 1.2 million acres and included various developed sites, a monument, and a transportation system boasting 450 miles of trail and 2,000 miles of roads.

Wu started with the USFS in 1989 working in developed recreation and trails on the Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont. After working in Vermont for approximately 10 years she moved to the San Juan National Forest in Dolores, Colo. in 1999.

Wu and her family are excited to move to Idaho Springs and become a part of the ARP. She and her family members enjoy camping, dirt-biking, hiking, skiing and coaching youth sports.

On what she hopes to gain when joining the Clear Creek Ranger District staff in Idaho Springs Wu said, “I hope to strengthen existing relationships among local municipalities, with a goal of establishing open lines of communication with surrounding county commissioner boards. By working together I hope to address important issues.”