By Roger Segelken
Now more than ever, the nation's environmental and economic health depends on continued public support of forest-products research, a leader of the National Association of Professional Forestry Schools and Colleges (NAPFSC) told a Congressional subcommittee on March 6 in Wash ington, D.C.
Cutbacks in timber harvests on federal lands have shifted the supply burden to privately owned forests, where owners need help enhancing productivity through economically efficient and environmen tally sound means, James P. Lassoie testified before the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations' Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration.
Lassoie, chairman of the NAPFSC research committee and professor of natural resources, called for continued funding of three measures that support forestry research and information extension: the McIntire-Stennis Cooperative Forestry Research Program, the Renewable Re sources Extension Act and the National Research Initiative.
"These programs have advanced our knowledge of the forest ecosystem, and they have ex panded marketing horizons for environmentally friendly and renewable wood and fiber-based prod ucts," Lassoie said. Pointing to one result of research -- the integrated land-use system called "agroforestry" that combines agricultural crops and trees -- he said, "These programs have signifi cantly aided the development of new forest management systems for multiple uses, including timber, water, wildlife, grazing, recreation and aesthetic purposes."
Besides environmental quality, healthy and well-managed forests provide jobs, the professor reminded the subcommittee. Forest product companies employ more than 1.5 million people in the United States and represent more than 8 percent of the manufacturing workforce, he observed.