About

For more than 25 years, the Partnership for Ecosystem Research and Management (PERM) has successfully united Michigan State University (MSU) scientists with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) to help keep Michigan’s natural resources healthy and sustainable. Originally a partnership between MSU and the Fisheries and Wildlife divisions of the DNR, PERM has expanded to include the DNR Forest Resources Division and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. Today, PERM's progress has enabled researchers to advance conservation to meet public needs. We are working to better understand how people interact with and value natural resources and how that affects ecosystems. Efforts span wildlife, fish, and forests as well as the human systems that depend on those resources.

PERM features agency-supported faculty positions to improve the ability of MSU and the MDNR to work with other stakeholders toward identifying significant ecosystem problems and conducting research and outreach.

Objectives of PERM include:

  • Augmenting regional capability for ecosystem-level applied research.
  • Providing outreach services to management agencies.
  • Serving as a liaison between management agencies and other MSU entities that conducts cooperative research, education and outreach on high-priority problems.
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