On December 21, 1995, the USDA Forest Service signed an agreement with the National Science Foundation (NSF) to expand cooperation and participation in the NSF’s Long-Term Ecological Research Program. Signing on behalf of the agencies were Forest Service Chief Jack Ward Thomas and NSF Assistant Director Mary E. Clutter.
Thomas noted that long-term ecological research is vital to the Forest Service’s mission to promote the sustainability of ecosystems and excellence in public service. “To achieve these goals,” he said at the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), “requires our managers to draw upon the best ecological knowledge available. The most useful information for this purpose is gathered over long periods of time and large geographic scales, which is precisely what the LTER Network was designed to do.”
Five Forest Service Experimental Forests are already LTER sites, but the Service also conducts long-term ecological research at many other locations across the nation. Developing stronger ties holds many benefits for both LTER and Forest Service research. The Network has extensive data archiving and sharing techniques us help Forest Service scientists extend their understanding of ecological processes to a wider range of conditions. The Forest Service Interaction with LTER also offers Forest Service scientists opportunities to collaborate with investigators from a wide range of disciplines.
“In the past, research at Forest Service LTER sites has contributed to our understanding of such national problems as acid rain in the eastern United States and, more recently, the effort to protect and restore Pacific salmon and steelhead trout under President Clinton’s Pacific Northwest Forest Plan,” Thomas said. “Collaboration between Forest Service scientists, university researchers, and the National Science Foundation is critical to make the best use of scientific expertise to manage our natural resources.”
Fred Swanson (H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest LTER) initiated efforts to develop the agreement (including the early drafts), and Doug Ryan of the Forest Service (formerly at Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest) and then NSF Division of Environmental Biology Director James Gosz worked on final language to satisfy the legal requirements of the two very different agencies. Doug Ryan also handled the logistics of the formal signing ceremony. The full agreement is now available online at the LTERnet gopher (Iternet. edu/AboutLTER/d-natint/d-natLnet) and Web (http://lternet.edu/about/netwoffc/natlcol.htm).
Douglas F. Ryan, USDA Forest Service, 202 -205-1524, dRyan@LTERnet.edu