Leadership
Meet the Leadership
Forest Supervisor Chris Stubbs joined the Forests and Grassland in November 2024. Previously he served as the Forest Supervisor and Deputy Forest Supervisor since 2019 on the Los Padres National Forest in Southern California. At Los Padres, Stubbs built key partnerships on a 2-million acre, urban-coastal National Forest and led his staff through severe flooding and storm damage during the winter of 2022-2023. Prior to his time with the Forest Service, Stubbs spent 22 years with the National Park Service, serving in five different National Parks. He began his career with the Bureau of Land Management in Northern Nevada as a planner and environmental coordinator. Stubbs attended the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech, earning a Master of Science in Forestry with a concentration in outdoor recreation planning.
Deputy Forest Supervisor Jason Sieg started his leadership roll on the Forests and Grassland in April 2023. He started with the Forest Service in 2005, working in a variety of positions across the west, from a seasonal wildlife crewmember in Arizona, to a wildland firefighter in Montana, to a forester in Alaska. Sieg has deep roots in northern Colorado, growing up in Fort Collins and spending time as a seasonal employee on the Forest early in his career. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Forest Resource Management from the University of Montana in 2009.
Boulder District Ranger Kevin McLaughlin joined the district in May 2022. He started his Forest Service career in 2004 as a seasonal employee on the Arapaho National Forest’s Sulphur Ranger District. Over the next few years, he held many positions on the Forest, including district timber program manager, certified silviculturist, and forest timber program manager, as well as experience on other national forests and the Forest Service's Washington Office. McLaughlin earned his Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science from SUNY Plattsburg.
Canyon Lakes District Ranger Brian Sugg became the district ranger in January 2025. He began his Forest Service career in 2013 as a seasonal wildland firefighter on the Boulder Ranger District and earned his first permanent position with the Forest Service in 2017 as a Harvest Inspector in Laramie, Wyoming. Sugg rose through the timber management organization on the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests to Forest Service Representative, becoming a Certified Sale Administrator along the way. He received a degree in Forest Management at Colorado State University.
Clear Creek District Ranger Max Forgensi joined the Forests and Grassland in January 2025. He brings more than 20 years of experience in public lands management, including spending the past decade working on National Forests in Colorado. Previously, he worked on the Pike-San Isabel National Forests, where he had served as the Lands and Special Uses Program Manager since 2021. Prior to that he was the Mountain Sports Administrator on the White River National Forest for seven years. Forgensi earned a Bachelor of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Clarkson University and a Master of Science in Natural Resources from the University of Idaho.
Pawnee National Grassland District Ranger Dana Guinn came to the Pawnee in June 2025. She most recently worked at the Washington Office where she serves on a small team coordinating the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program nationwide. Prior to joining the Forest Service, Dana worked in the non-profit sector, coordinating and implementing local and landscape-scale natural resource projects in southwest Colorado and Northern New Mexico. She holds master's degrees in both Agricultural Resource Management from Colorado State University and in Education from Adams State University.
Sulphur District Ranger Eric Freels joined the district in May 2022. He was previously the deputy district ranger on the North River and Lee Ranger Districts of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests. Prior to this position, he worked in wildlife on the Grand Valley Ranger District of the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests. Eric started his Forest Service career in Steamboat Springs on the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests as a wildlife technician in 2001.