The Pinchot Institute: Toward Managing Our Urban Forest Resources

Abstract

In 1971, the USDA, Forest Service established the Pinchot Institute of Environmental Forestry Research to deal with forest-related environmental concerns in urban areas. The Institute is named in honor of the first Chief of the Forest Service; one of America's foremost early conservationists. Within the Pinchot Institute, the Forest Service and nine northeastern universities have joined together to form the Consortium for Environmental Forestry Studies. Through this program, scientists at institutions throughout the Northeast are developing information needed to solve problems of policy formulation, regional planning, and management of urban forest resources. Though the research is done in the Northeast, much of it is applicable to management of urban forests throughout the Nation and abroad. By coordinating Forest Service research with that of other Consortium members, there is a much greater chance of meeting the Institute's overall objective — to determine how trees and forests can best serve the needs of urban man.