I am pleased to announce that the Forest Service’s International Institute of Tropical Forestry will join the Research and Development Deputy Area in the Washington Office. 

This supervisory realignment connects the institute to leadership at the national level. The institute serves a unique and critical role within the agency, working across four distinct areas—Research and Development, International Programs, Business Operations and State, Private, and Tribal Forestry—to seamlessly deliver programs and information to local communities across the Caribbean.  

The institute’s staff provides focused, implementable research to better understand the pressures on tropical forests, technical and financial assistance to local communities and landowners in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and training and assistance throughout Central and South America and the Caribbean. The institute works collaboratively with National Forest System leadership to address management and scientific understanding issues facing El Yunque National Forest, including the Luquillo Experimental Forest. 

In recent years, the institute has increased its post-disaster focus, following a series of hurricanes and tropical storms in 2017, 2020 and 2022. Employees have concentrated on rebuilding damaged infrastructure, reestablishing long-term monitoring activities, and initiating research and outreach activities to aid in recovery efforts. 

Throughout the disasters, employees continued to connect with local communities. Last year, in cooperation with local non-government organizations, the institute designed and implemented development programs for Hispanic youth ages 8-18 who are from rural communities in several countries in the Caribbean and Central America. These programs— Niñas con Alas (Girls with Wings), Semillitas (Little Seeds) and Guarde Parque Junio (Junior Ranger)—presented an opportunity to more than 100 young people to develop science, technology, engineering and math skills.  

The institute recently ended three years on two active Joint Chiefs’ projects supporting forest restoration for targeted vulnerable species habitat, water conservation and agroforestry practices on private lands across Puerto Rico. During that time, more than 20,000 trees were planted on private lands, and the institute hosted workshops, monitoring activities and data collection. In addition, 55 forest stewardship management plans are helping to benefit 136 local farmers and landowners 

Research and Development is excited for this opportunity, which we see not as an end or a beginning, but an opportunity for more purposeful connections, sharing of resources and expanding scientific knowledge not only within the agency but worldwide. Research and Development and the institute are well-suited to work together to expand support for setting priorities, strategic management of resources and increased readiness for hurricane season.  

Please join me in welcoming Director Grizelle González and her staff to Research and Development. We are proud of the work the institute accomplished over the last 80 years and excited about the work we will do together in the future.

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