Dennis Becker, Ph.D., NAUFRP President
I want to take a moment to acknowledge the challenges many of our programs are facing or fear will affect our ability to continue the important work of our institutions. Potential losses of federal funding, efforts to reduce overhead rates charged on grants, and the outright dismissal of federal employees have had a chilling effect on our workforce and students.
I want to assure you that NAUFRP s Washington Counsel, Randy Nuckols, is working closely with APLU and our partners to protect our McIntire-Stennis funding, and to advocate broadly for our work. It’s also important that the incoming administration hear your voices. I encourage you to work through your institutional channels to engage with your congressional delegations to share the real impact of your work on the forest resources we all cherish.
We may not be able to change the arc of disruption, but we can be a force for a better future. Our work matters. And it will continue to matter even to those intent on changing government. But it’s up to us to define how our work, and our institutions, achieve that future.
As our colleague John Carroll expressed in his letter last week to our sister organization, the National Association of University Fish and Wildlife Programs: Despite these challenges, I have no doubt in the resilience and dedication of our programs and faculty. We have weathered tough times before, and through collaboration, advocacy, and mutual support, we will find ways to navigate this moment as well.
Offer a helping hand to our federal partners. Reassure students and recent graduates. Seek ways to tell your story of our impact. And share strategies for addressing what will assuredly be continued disruption to our ways of doing business.
