Every forester managing America's 745 million acres started somewhere—a high school science class, an undergraduate forestry program, a graduate research lab. The NAUFRP Education Committee ensures those pathways remain open, rigorous, and responsive to the challenges forests face today.
Building the forestry workforce America needs
The foresters managing wildfire, climate adaptation, and sustainable harvest over the next 50 years are sitting in classrooms today. Whether they’ll have the training they need depends on decisions universities make now about curriculum, capacity, and recruitment.
The Education Committee strengthens forestry education from K-12 through doctoral programs. We identify capacity shortages before they undermine research productivity. We track enrollment trends to catch recruitment problems early. We develop strategies to enhance undergraduate curricula. And we connect university programs with K-12 educators to build long-term interest in forestry careers.
Our work led to the Food and Agricultural Sciences National Needs Fellowship program, which funds graduate education in forestry. We work closely with the Society of American Foresters and their Education Policy Review Committee to ensure that accreditation standards remain up-to-date with industry needs and with the goals of college and university 2- and 4-year programs. Our student surveys reveal what drives recruitment and retention. Our K-12 outreach initiatives including teacher tours expose educators to forest science in ways that translate to classroom engagement.
When workforce needs shift faster than universities can adapt, we coordinate responses across 80 institutions. When enrollment declines threaten program viability, we develop recruitment strategies grounded in data rather than guesswork.
Committee reports and publications
Committee activities focused on SAF’s strategic withdrawal of CHEA application due to rapidly changing federal and state regulations, clarifying accreditation policies for minors and micro-credentialing programs, serving as EPRC liaison to the Committee on Accreditation for site visit guidance and 2+2/3+1+1 program models, and planning committee expansion beyond current single-member structure.
Committee activities included appointment as SAF Committee on Accreditation liaison, finalizing CHEA application materials, developing guidance for programs navigating diversity-related executive orders, publishing a chapter in SAF’s 125th anniversary volume on improving forestry education quality, and conducting hands-on AI workshop at the General Assembly.
Committee activities included reviewing SAF’s CHEA application with focus on Standard 3 compliance for website-posted student achievement data, advancing a 10-year enrollment trends manuscript analyzing diversity patterns across natural resources programs, and hosting “AI in Forestry Education” workshop at the General Assembly to address generative AI integration challenges.
Andrew Storer, Michigan Technological University
Education Committee Chair
storer@mtu.edu
Summary of forestry teacher tour programs across eight states that provide K-12 educators with hands-on forest management and timber industry experiences ranging from single days to full weeks.
Comprehensive global study by FAO, ITTO, and IUFRO examining forest education from primary through university levels across six world regions, identifying urgent needs for inclusive, locally relevant solutions and gender/racial balance in forestry workforce development.
Landmark 2003 study identifying critical capacity shortages in forestry graduate education that directly led to creation of the federal National Needs Fellowship program, which continues to fund graduate education in forestry and agricultural disciplines.
