Travel and Planning Your Stay
You've been accepted as a participant for a Powell Center Working group? Congratulations!
Want to know what's next? This page has information for Working Group visitors to the Powell Center.
Travel Information
Pre-travel forms are required from each participant in order to arrange appropriate travel and lodging accommodations. Working Group Principal Investigators (PI) will designate a Point of Contact (POC) who will receive several communications from the Powell Center. The POC is responsible for distributing the information and forms to their groups and holding group members accountable for the return of forms, specific communications with the Powell Center, and other means to be determined.
Travel information is different depending on the type of traveler. Examples: USGS employees, other Federal agency employees, US travelers, international travelers, etc. For this reason, the Powell Center will contact every traveler individually, ~6-8 weeks before the Working Group meeting, to give instructions about their specific travel circumstances, arrangements, and needs.
While the Powell Center Travel Arrangers will attempt to ease travel arrangement requirements, there are many different forms required, so please pay attention to all communications and deadlines. Traveler's failure to initiate and facilitate the travel arrangement process increases the workload and may result in delayed reimbursement.
Powell Center will notify Working Group Principal Investigators about missing pre- and post-travel forms, requesting that the PIs contact those travelers to provide the required information. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated. Please reach out with any questions or concerns. Powell Center Travel: GS_Powell_Center_Travel@usgs.gov
General Travel Information:
DO NOT BOOK YOUR FLIGHTS (unless instructed by the Powell Center Travel Arranger)
Powell Center cannot reimburse you for flights if you purchase your own ticket. The Powell Center covers all travel and per diem expenses for participants. A Travel Reimbursement Checklist will be sent to the PIs for distribution among the group.
Acceptable travel expenses:
- Hotel expenses for the length of the meeting, to include the day before and after meeting, if necessary, (government rate only)
- Meals and incidental expenses (M&IE) for the length of the meeting, to include the day before and after meeting, if necessary
- Airline tickets from a participant’s originating airport to Denver International Airport and the return to originating airport - DO NOT BOOK YOUR OWN FLIGHTS UNLESS INSTRUCTED OTHERWISE BY USGS TRAVEL AGENT (Concur)
- Two-way mileage between participant’s residence and home airport or between the participant’s residence and Fort Collins (2022 mileage rate = .585 cents/mile)
- Parking at home airport (not to exceed $150.00)
- Shuttle/taxi to and from home airport (not to exceed $80.00 unless pre-approved by Powell Center)
Your cooperation is greatly appreciated. Please reach out with any questions or concerns.
Powell Center Travel: gs_powell_center_travel@usgs.gov
Planning your stay and activities in Fort Collins, Colorado
The John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis (Powell Center) is in Fort Collins, Colorado. We are pleased to welcome you to our beautiful city. Fort Collins is located in northern Colorado about 60 miles from Denver at the junction of the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains. At 5,000 feet (1,524 m) above sea level, Fort Collins is sunny and dry.
Average rainfall is about 14.5 inches (370 mm) with about 300 days of sunshine each year. There are four distinct seasons. Summers are warm and mostly clear, and the winters can be freezing, snowy, windy, and partly cloudy.
Fort Collins has a population of 170,000. It is home to Colorado State University, an R1 research university with 25,000 undergraduate students and about 10,000 graduate students. CSU is the largest employer in the city. Fort Collins’ location provides easy access to the mountains and the Cache la Poudre River, a natural heritage area and a scenic and historic byway to the mountains. Natural areas are common throughout Fort Collins and Larimer County, and the Arapaho/Roosevelt National Forest, Pawnee Grasslands, and Rocky Mountain National Park are all within one hour’s drive.
In-town Transportation
The Powell Center discourages participants from renting cars at the airport unless you have a compelling reason (check with the Powell Center Director). Instead, we encourage taking a shuttle from the Denver airport to your hotel and walking or using one of our bikes for in-town transport. Most destinations are no more than 2 miles from the Powell Center or hotels.
“The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart.” -Iris Murdoch (15 Jul 1919-1999).
Fort Collins is a Platinum-rated Bicycle Friendly Community and maintains more than 200 miles of dedicated bike lanes and 50 miles of marked or signed bike trails in town. The Powell Center bike fleet of 17 bikes is available for your use while in town, making it easy to get around. Trail and road maps are available.
The Powell Center, Hilton, and University Best Western hotels are located in Midtown Fort Collins. The MAX bus runs north and south in town connecting hotels and the Powell Center with Old Town to the north (where many restaurants and brewpubs are) and shopping areas to the south (where one can find REI and Sierra Trading Post). The free bus runs every 20-minutes Monday – Saturday from 5:33 a.m. – 10:20 p.m. Bicycles are allowed on the bus should you choose to cycle one way but not round-trip.
Food and beverages
Fort Collins has a large selection of interesting restaurants with flavors from all over the world. Most restaurants offer vegetarian and vegan options. The Powell Center can make reservations for your group from our list (link) of local eateries. The city is known for its craft breweries. There are more than 20 brewpubs to choose from, many of which have live music in the afternoons and adjacent food trucks.
Entertainment
There is a lot to do in Fort Collins throughout the year, but summer is when the city shows off a thriving arts and music scene. If you are interested in activities, please look at the Visit Fort Collins website: Things To Do In Fort Collins, CO | Hiking, Biking & Breweries (visitftcollins.com).
Being outside in Colorado
We strongly encourage Working Groups to take a half or full day of “unstructured” time as a group away from the Powell Center while your group is meeting. Group dynamics are very different on a trail or bicycle than they are around a table (Scheffer 2014). Being unstructured encourages relationships with your trail mates and promotes the associative thinking that leads to breakthroughs in understanding. However, Colorado terrain and weather may differ from where you come from, so come prepared. Being prepared will help make your activity as enjoyable as possible, even if the weather surprises, as it often does. Please consider these gear items essential and plan to bring them with you or purchase them in Fort Collins.
Summer
- Sunscreen
- Sun hat or ball cap
- Sunglasses
- Comfortable walking shoes – running shoes are fine
- Reusable water bottle (1 L minimum)
- Fleece, wool or down sweater
- Wind or rain shell
- Daypack to carry everything
Winter
- All of the above!
- Long underwear
- Layers of clothing to take on or off to maintain warmth (wool or microfiber)
- Warm hat
- Warm gloves or mittens
- Snow or wind pants
- Boots if you will be in snow