WASHINGTON, - U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth recently selected Dave Cleaves to lead the agency's Rocky Mountain Research Station (Fort Collins, Colo.). Cleaves is currently the director of the resource valuation and use research staff here in the national headquarters.
"Dave will be an excellent leader for our Rocky Mountain Station," said Bosworth. "He has outstanding credentials in the science world, including his work in fire economics, and risk management for firefighting and fuels management."
The Rocky Mountain Research Station maintains forest and rangeland research and development programs and facilities in 10 states of the Interior West. It has a $42 million budget for fiscal year 2006 and employs more than 400 people.
Prior to his current post in research, Cleaves was the national program leader for fire systems research on the vegetation management and protection research staff. In that position, he provided strategic direction and oversight for the Forest Service's research and development programs in fire behavior and prediction, fuels management, planning and economics, and the soil science of fire.
"I am thrilled to lead a research organization with such a well organized and high caliber staff," said Cleaves. "This has been a lifelong dream of mine and I look forward to the exciting challenges ahead."
Cleaves' Forest Service career also includes working with the National Fire Plan staff as the research and development coordinator. He also served as the fire research representative on the National Wildfire Coordinating Group and chair of the Interagency Fire Research Coordination Council. In addition, Cleaves worked in the ecosystem management and coordination staff where he developed methods and tools for improving environmental analysis and decision processes.
From 1987 to 1993, Cleaves was a professor of forest economics at Oregon State University.
Cleaves holds a bachelor's in forest management and a master's in forest ecology and soil science from Michigan State University. He also has a doctorate in economics from Texas A&M University. He is a member of the federal government's senior executive service.
The assignment is effective immediately.