Defining the role of silvicultural research in the Northeastern Forest Experiment Station

Research planning in the Northeastern Forest Experiment Station has followed a grass roots model for more than two years-ROADMAP, a research and development management plan. The goals for research within ROADMAP include understanding, protecting, managing, and utilizing forest ecosystems. There are nine research themes set to help achieve these goals, each with a set of research initiatives that describe contemporary and future science. Development of the "Silviculture and Resource Management Theme" has helped tile Station define and communicate the role of silviculture to a variety of audiences. This paper presents the silvicultural statement developed by a core group of Station scientists. the Station and then communicate it to our colleagues and stakeholders. In this paper, we describe the role of silvicultural research within the Station as developed for ROADMAP. Each team was given a list of questions to answer in a single statement. We modified this list as a framework for this paper.