College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Department of Forestry

Dear MSU Forestry Alumni and Friends,

We live in an uncertain world, which seems to be especially pertinent now. Regardless, MSU Forestry knows where we want to go and will figure out a way to navigate there. Here are our three current priorities.

First, we will further enhance MSU Forestry’s transformational education and equip our students to be leaders. The Dr. Bob Marty Endowed Fund for Forestry Education, established through a gift from Dick Cooper (p. 8), supports this fundamental.  At the core of our mission is a rigorous education that incorporates lots of hands-on, field-based learning. We will bring this vision to life by:

• Re-establishing a permanent Forestry Education Field Camp to host multiple courses.
• Supporting out of classroom learning – attendance at professional meetings, internships in DC, community engagement, and more opportunities to study internationally.
• Connecting students with leaders from industry and government, a key to educating future leaders.
• Providing fellowships to train graduate students, who will be future forestry researchers and a bridge to help ensure that teaching is informed by current research.

Second, we will embrace advancing forestry knowledge and connecting it to other disciplines to address societal challenges. For example, MSU Forestry can lead in advancing knowledge at the interface of:

• Wood science and engineering to develop sustainable bio-based products
• Urban forestry, arboriculture, and human well-being to promote vibrant communities
• Forests with human and environmental health to promote ‘one health’
• Integrated forest and agricultural land management for climate adaptation and mitigation.

Third, we want to heighten the impact of our education and research by supporting economic as well as social and environmental sustainability in Michigan and beyond. We can achieve this by leveraging strong, existing connections and initiatives, such as:

• MassTimber@MSU, a program led by the Department of Forestry in collaboration with MSU’s Construction Management Program and MSU Extension. This program is leading mass timber research, education, and extension to advance mass timber in Michigan and beyond.
• Our great connections with the tree care industry (see article on p. 5).We will aim to expand those collaborations, including faculty expertise in arboriculture.
• Providing valuable talent to the forestry sector, including students from our highly successful hybrid-online MS program (see student profiles on p. 6-7) – we aim to expand our capacity to graduate more forestry talent from this innovative program.

Alumni are an important part of the MSU Forestry Community, and we want our alumni to stay connected to each other and to MSU Forestry (see FAA President update on p. 10). If you are interested in leading a reunion of your graduating and adjacent classes, please let us know and we will help facilitate.

If you are interested in learning more about our priorities and how you can support them, please contact me.

The road ahead may be uncertain, but we know where we are going. Thanks for your support.

Go Green!

Rich