Forestry education and research in the United States: A story of shifting paradigms

Abstract

Two past revolutions have particularly defined and changed education and research in the United States: the conservation movement culminating in the first Roosevelt administration just after the turn of the 20th century, and the environmental movement and legislation of the late 1960s and 70s. The National Forests in their modern form were created by Pinchot and Roosevelt in the early 20th century and the first comprehensive effort at creating a national research plan and program followed in the 1920s. Several federal laws passed in the latter period (1960–1975), particularly the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Protection Act, and the National Forest Management Act, did much to shape and change the research and education agenda. A third revolution in forestry education and research is now underway, and includes huge changes in forestland ownership, broadening of forestry curricula, and the re‐targeting of forestry research away from wood production and toward other benefits. Forestry education and research are becoming components of natural resource and environmental programs, traditional forestry employment modes are disappearing, and new opportunities are opening in relation to ecosystem services and forest‐related investment. Suggestions are made for specific changes in education and research, the most radical of which is to make forestry a graduate degree only.