Forestry Research A Mandate for Change (1990) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
2. The Gap Between Society's Needs and the Status of Forestry Research
2. The Gap Between Society's Needs and the Status of Forestry Research
Pages 13-26
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From page 13... ...
During the past two decades, natural resource management in general and forest management in particular have been in a state of considerable turmoil. While resource managers have been struggling with new views and values, forestry research has concentrated primarily on technical forestry or production-based forestry.
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From page 14... ...
It was logical that the progressive administration of Theodore Roosevelt should adopt this philosophy for natural resources, and Gifford Pinchot, as a member of this administration, became not only the father of American forestry, but also the acknowledged father of forestry's conservation paradigm (Culhane, 1981~. Pinchot transformed the philosophy into one of wise use; he championed scientific forestry and rational planning as ways of using forests tO raise living standards without destroying the land's ability to be used.
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From page 15... ...
Certain specialized fields of forestry, such as wildlife and fisheries biology, forest engineering, and forest economics, have profited from related scientific endeavors in animal husbandry, agricultural engineering, and agricultural economics. The flow of ideas between agriculture and forestry has been generally from agriculture to forests, largely because of the much larger investments in agricultural research.
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From page 16... ...
The five main Forest Service forest research budget items are: forest protection, resource analysis, timber management, forest environment research, and forest products and harvesting. Within these budget
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From page 17... ...
1990 over FY-1989 levels ranging from 35 percent for water quality research to 3 percent for research on catastrophic forest fires (USDA Forest Service, 1989~. Compared with other federally funded research programs, the Forest Service research budget is very small.
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From page 18... ...
A substantial source of forestry-related research support comes from the NSF's Division of Biotic Systems and Resources (total budget of about $60 million in 1988~. Much of the research supported by this division could be applied to forestry research if scientists supported by NSF and scientists in traditional forestry disciplines interacted more.
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From page 19... ...
In 1987, the National Association of Professional Forestry Schools and Colleges recommended that McIntire-Stennis funding be increased to $25 million. The forest products industry through the American Forest Council (AFC)
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From page 20... ...
State Sources of Support Individual states are the major supporters of forestry research at the nonfederal forestry research institutions, which are predominantly members of the National Association of Professional Forestry Schools and Colleges. State funding currently constitutes about two thirds of total university support for forestry research and has increased slightly in response to decreased federal support.
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From page 21... ...
Approximately 80 grants from private foundations listed forestry as a specific subject area, and more than 200 grants listed natural resources conservation. Examples of major supporters of this research include the Ford Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the W
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From page 22... ...
· Nonforestry scientists have little opportunity to compete for funds that are currently awarded on a noncompetitive basis to forestry scientists; what is needed is a more open and competitive approach that would provid funds previously available to traditional forest scientists as well as provide more access to nonforest~y scientists to work on forestry-related problems. Extension Forestry Forestry extension is the primary mechanism in the United States for technology transfer from research programs to users traditionally private forestland owners.
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From page 23... ...
In addition, new challenges posed by potential environmental changes present forestry extension with a wide array of new areas that need to be addressed, such as forest management under potentially changing climatic conditions and the preservation of biological diversity. Incorporating advances made through biotechnology will also require new approaches and special attention for example, public education on the potential benefits and risks posed by introducing new genetically modified organisms into forest ecosystems.
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From page 24... ...
Traditional forest biology has a large number of well-defined problems, such as understanding and manipulating disease resistance genes, that would be advanced significantly if it could integrate the technology of plant molecular biology with the forest sciences. Other examples of needed research integration are in the areas of atInosphere-biosphere interactions, mathematical modeling, and ecosystem science.
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From page 25... ...
Employment Approximately 50 percent of new Ph.D.s in the forest sciences are employed by universities, while 6 and 7 percent are employed by the Forest Service and industry, respectively (Forestry Education ProblemAssessment Steering Committee, 1987~. Between 1978 and 1988, the number of scientist-years in the Forest Service has been reduced by 25 percent- from 962 to 724 scientist-years (1bble 2-1~.
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From page 26... ...
26 FORESTRY RESEARCH information systems (GIS) , molecular biology, forest policy, ecology, and landscape management, to name a few.
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