Endowment Helps Launch First-Ever Canada/ U.S. Forest Summit
The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (the Endowment) served as convener for the first-ever Canada/U.S. Forest Health Summit. The event, held at the Embassy of Canada in Washington, DC, on June 29th, was co-hosted by the USDA Forest Service and the Canadian Forest Service of Natural Resources Canada.
“The borders that separate the United States and Canada don’t segregate threats to our natural resources,” said U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “The countries share common environmental concerns. It is critical that we continue to collaborate and address current and future land management challenges as partners.”
The overall goal of the summit was to explore and develop a cooperative vision and plan for actions to address forest health challenges. While the two countries and their respective agencies have a long history of working together, until now collaborations have typically occurred among individual researchers working on specific topics.
“This summit is an important first step toward the creation of a Canada-U.S. forest science agenda,” said the Honorable Joe Oliver, Minister of Natural Resources Canada. “By identifying issues on which we can work together, we aim to maximize the value of the critical work that scientists and researchers are doing on both sides of the border to ensure the health of our forests and forest sector.”
In his opening challenge to the two-dozen agency and forest sector leaders participating in the summit, Endowment President Carlton Owen noted, “It is only at your respective levels of leadership when considering all of the information, all of the challenges, and all of the opportunities, that we can come to the conclusion that we can’t afford to wait any longer to look for ways to build on a strong foundation for even grander achievements. Clearly, the need is there.”
