The Research Committee promotes and fosters forestry and natural resource research activities across member institutions, with particular focus on the McIntire-Stennis Cooperative Forestry Research Program—the federal capacity funding that has supported university forestry research and graduate training for more than 60 years.
The committee advocates for sustained federal appropriations for McIntire-Stennis, which provides foundational support enabling universities to conduct long-term forest research, train the next generation of forest scientists, and maintain research infrastructure that addresses critical challenges in forest health, climate adaptation, wildfire management, and sustainable forest products. This capacity funding allows universities to pursue research questions that require decades of data collection, maintain experimental forests and research stations, and respond to emerging threats like invasive species and climate-driven forest change.
Beyond McIntire-Stennis advocacy, the Research Committee coordinates member institutions on research priorities, facilitates collaboration among university researchers and federal agencies like the USDA Forest Service, and helps identify critical gaps in forest science that require sustained investment. Through initiatives like the U.S. Forestry R&D Priorities Summit, the committee ensures that federal research funding reflects the most pressing challenges facing America’s forests and the scientific capacity needed to address them.
