Blake Cooper to join Boulder County on Aug. 7

Boulder County, Colo. - Blake Cooper will be joining the management team at Boulder County Parks & Open Space on Aug. 7 as the new Agricultural Resources Division Manager. Cooper will take over the position from interim manager Jeff Moline, who has held the position since David Bell moved to the city of Longmont in 2016. Moline will return to the Resource Planning Manager position.

Cooper most recently served as Senior Plant Breeder for Limagrain Cereal Seeds in Fort Collins. For much of his career, he developed and delivered better strains of wheat and barley to agricultural producers. In that capacity, he has worked with numerous farmers in various parts of the country. Growing up on a family farm in southeast Colorado, Cooper learned firsthand of the many challenges facing Colorado farmers.

Cooper holds a doctorate in Plant Breeding and Genetics and a master's degree in Plant Pathology from Kansas State University.

"Blake’s personal background and professional experience in agriculture will be a good fit with our tenants, staff, and community," said Parks & Open Space Director Eric Lane. “We look forward to his joining our team and taking up the mantle of overseeing the county’s agricultural resources program."

As Agricultural Resources Division Manager for Boulder County Parks & Open Space, Cooper will supervise a team of 13 permanent employees. The division manages 25,000 acres including 13,000 acres of irrigated cropland, 3,000 acres of dryland cropland, and 7,000 acres of rangeland (2,000 acres is not in production but included in leases—such as access roads, ditches, etc.)