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RESPONSES OF R. RODNEY FOIL TO WRITTEN QUESTIONS 



Question 1: How well is forestry research funded at USDA? 



Response: Not well at all. 



The two main sources of support for forestry research are the USDA Forest Service budget and 

 Mclntire-Stennis funds administered through the Cooperative State Research Service. A report 

 issued by the National Research Council in 1990 entitled "Forestry Research: Mandate for Change" 

 reported that Forest Service research funding had declined 14 percent (1982 $) during the previous 

 10 years. During the same period, Mclntire-Stennis funding remained essentially level. Since 

 1990 Forest Service funding has increased somewhat while Mclntire-Stennis funding has declined 

 to its 1982 level. (Attached table) This situation has been exacerbated by a five-year decline of 50 

 percent in industry-sponsored forestry research. 



Funding levels for forestry research are in sharp contrast to the growing public perception of the 

 importance of forests and the many societal needs and concerns related to the economic and 

 environmental role of forests. Accordingly, the National Research Council recommended the 

 following: (1) increase competitive grants for forestry research to $1(X) million annually; (2) 

 increase USDA Forest Service research budget by 1() percent each year for the next five years; (3) 

 increase Mclntire-Stennis funds over the next five years to the full authorization level of 50 percent 

 of the Forest Service research budget (currentiy Mclntire-Stennis support is approximately 10 

 percent of the Forest Service research budget). 



1 concur with these recommendations. The forestry research community, in common with the 

 administration and members of Congress, is caught up in the growing public concern over ancient 

 forests, threatened and endangered species, global warming, wetlands, wilderness preservation, 

 tropical deforestation and related environmental issues. Regrettably, the science to which resource 

 management and national state and local policy measures can be anchored is simply inadequate. 

 The urgent need for research on environmental issues related to forest lands is most apparent at the 

 state and local levels. Management of land for timber, water, wildlife and recreation is becoming 

 increasingly more difficult and expensive for lack of reliable information on the best management 

 and harvesting practices on a site-specific, landscape and regional basis. It is noteworthy that 

 environmental research was ranked first among research needs - above timber production - by the 

 Southern Industrial Forestry Research Council, an organization representing the major forest-based 

 industries in the South. 



Forestry and the associated industrial base account for a significant fraction of our GNP and are of 

 fundamental importance to the economy of literally hundreds of communities across the United 

 States. There is convincing evidence that forestry will become even more important in the future. 

 Global demand for forest products is increasing. This increase in demand coincides with 

 diminishing wood supplies in many established wood-producing countries of the world. The 

 United States is well positioned in terms of timber supply and manufacturing and transportation 

 infrastructure to satisfy a major share of this increase in demand. However, continued profitably 

 of forest-based industries will require: (1) that we develop more efficient and environmentally 

 compatible production and processing systems if we are to compete in a growing international 

 market where competition is also increasing; and (2) that we resolve some of the environmental 

 issues which threaten to disrupt timber supply - demand relationships. Both of these will require 

 additional investments in research. 



