Endowment Releases Report from Canada/ U.S. Forest Health Summit II

The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (the Endowment) today released the report and recommendations resulting from the Canada/U.S. Forest Health Summit II.  The Summit, held March 26-27, 2013 in Ottawa, Canada, was attended by nearly 50 senior forestry officials from both the public and private sectors across Canada and the U.S.  The meeting was designed to develop specific recommendations on ways that the two countries could enhance collaboration to address forest health on both sides of the border.

In presenting the report to the respective Chiefs of the Canadian and USDA Forest Services on behalf of the team that developed the summit and drafted the report, Carlton Owen, President of the Endowment said, “Your strong commitment to the Summit process evidenced by your active participation has already sent positive signals throughout both agencies and their partners.  While there has always been a solid foundation of collaboration between our two countries, and especially our forestry communities, the current threats to forest health combined with looming budget and demographic challenges emphasize the need to make that collaboration more strategic, continual, and effective.”

Summit II built on the spirit and concepts developed at the first-ever Canada/U.S. Forest Health Summit held in Washington, DC in mid-2012.  The report submitted to the two agencies who served as session co-sponsors was accompanied by more than two dozen specific recommendations targeted at enhancing collaboration to more effectively deploy limited human and financial resources while speeding results to aid in forest health and protection.

The Endowment served as the convener for both of the Canada/U.S. Forest Health Summits and took the lead in drafting the final reports from each session.