The research mission of UF/ifas, conducted under the auspices of the florida agricultural experiment station (faes), is to discover new scientific knowledge, encourage innovative study, and create…

The Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded the University of Florida $1,831,548 on October 1, 2025, under the Cooperative Forestry Research program (CFDA 10.202), also known as McIntire-Stennis Cooperative Forestry Research.

The award supports forestry research and education conducted by the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station at the University of Florida, with work performed in Gainesville, Florida. The funding supports research addressing challenges in food and fiber production, water conservation, natural resource protection, alternative energy and conservation, and community resource development across Florida, the United States, and internationally. The research mission encompasses basic and applied science in terrestrial natural resource ecology, including disturbance and successional forces such as fires, storms, timber harvesting, and insect or disease outbreaks; carbon and water cycles in forests; tree physiology and genetics; and the social and economic aspects of managing natural resources. Activities include training professional natural resource managers and conducting outreach to the public, landowners, and resource stewards.

The award period runs from October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2027. Under McIntire-Stennis policy, up to 50 percent of fiscal year 2025 funds may carry over into fiscal year 2026, with carryover funds fully expended by September 30, 2026, unless a waiver for greater carryover is approved.

The research mission of UF/ifas, conducted under the auspices of the florida agricultural experiment station (faes), is to discover new scientific knowledge, encourage innovative study, and create applications based on sound science that address challenges facing agriculture, natural resources, and interrelated human systems in florida, our country, and the world. The state has extensive natural and planted pine and hardwood forests that are often utilized for the commercial production of a wide variety of wood building materials, consumer paper and packaging products, chemicals, and renewable biomass fuels. Concurrently maintaining tremendous population growth and significant area of forested land increases the need for new information and technology related to food and fiber production, water conservation, natural resource protection, alternative energy and conservation, community resource development, and individual and family well?being. UF/ifas programs in forestry, natural resources, and conservation address the ecological, social, and economic aspects of managing terrestrial natural resources. Within this broad field, faculty and staff with a variety of technical and academic specialties conduct innovative basic and applied science; educate society on the value and proper management of natural resources, develop the next generation of professional natural resource managers and work to improve our natural resources through outreach to the public, landowners, and resource stewards. Our work on the ecology of terrestrial natural resources includes such subfields as the role of disturbance/successional forces such as fires, storms, timber harvesting, and insect/disease outbreaks; the carbon and water cycles of forests; and basic tree physiology and genetics. Faculty and staff studying the social aspects of terrestrial ecosystems address the value of recreational opportunities, including managing ecosystems to balance recreational use with resource protection; how the public understands environmental issues, and how educators can better disseminate new information on environmental issues; and how public policies impact the way terrestrial ecosystems are managed. Forests continue to have a significant role in society from an economic perspective: identifying new markets for timber products and ecosystem services; how landowners choose to manage their land to produce financial returns; and how policy changes influence the markets for land, timber, and ecosystem services. The purpose of the mcintire?stennis capacity program is to increase forestry research in the production, utilization, and protection of forestland, to train future forestry scientists, and to involve other disciplines in forestry research. At the time of application, UF/ifas has 42 active mcintire?stennis capacity projects that leverage program funds to conduct a wide range of interdisciplinary research on topics covered by the program's legislatively mandated research topics: 1) reforestation and management of land for the production of crops of timber and other related products of the forest. 2) management of forest and related watershed lands to improve conditions of water flow and to protect resources against floods and erosion. 3) management of forest and related rangeland for production of forage for domestic livestock and game and improvement of food and habitat for wildlife. 4) management of forest lands for outdoor recreation. 5) protection of forest land and resources against fire, insects, diseases, or other destructive agents. 6) utilization of wood and other forest products. 7) development of sound policies for the management of forest lands and the harvesting and marketing of forest products. Research generated by these projects will benefit scientists, students, governmental agencies, ranchers and other agricultural producers, industry, non?governmental organizations (ngos), non?profit groups, landowners, land managers and the general public