We want to thank the Society of American Foresters’s (SAF) alpha chapter and employees from the Colorado State Forest Service for constructing CSU’s homecoming bonfire this past weekend. This was an enormous undertaking that began well before Friday night’s festivities.

Last Thursday afternoon, a dedicated group gathered and loaded slash material from the Borden Memorial Forest into three CSU dump trucks.

From left: Ariana Vargas, Nick Martin and Cam Clemens finish loading a truck with slash. (Photo by Megan Matonis)

The next morning, six students and five Colorado State Forest Service employees built the bonfire in the designated area west of the Lory Student Center. SAF students took turns guarding the bonfire throughout the day, ensuring it would be in tact for the pyrotechnic show that lit up the night that evening.

The bonfire glows in front of a large crowd Friday night. (Photo by Courtney Peterson)