Actions to reduce the size of the federal government in the United States are having remarkable effects on forestry research. The U.S. Forest Service was granted permission to reinvent itself rather than have organizational changes imposed on it. The Forest Service explored public opinion and suggestions, employee ideas and concerns, and the latest literature on the management of organizations responsive to their clients as it attempted to reinvent itself to address resource issues and public service in the 21st century. Several of the findings and responses to those findings have a significant impact on the research arm of the Forest Service.
A team approach to national and regional scale decisionmaking and collaboration is a key element in the reinvented Forest Service. In this approach a Director of Research and Development becomes one of four equal directors on a regional leadership team. Questions of how such a team will operate, how research will remain independent to maintain its credibility, and how research funding will exist within a regional budget await experience with the organization. This represents an unprecedented change for research managers within the Forest Service. This paper will provide an in-depth look at the issues and early results of the reinvention on Forest Service Research.
Key words: forestry research, reorganization, reinvention, technology transfer.
Correspondence: Denver P. Burns, Director, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, 240 West Prospect Road, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA
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