Pacific Southwest Research Station

About Us

The USDA Forest Service Research and Development (FS R&D) is the world's largest forestry research organization FS R&D conducts ecological and social science research to understand ecosystems, how humans influence those systems, and how to manage for sustained and enhanced benefits. FS R&D operates five Research Stations, the Forest Products Laboratory, and the International Institute of Tropical Forestry. It employs more than 500 scientists as well as several hundred technical and support personnel located at 67 sites throughout the United States.

The Pacific Southwest Research Station represents the Forest Service R&D in the States of California and Hawaii and the U.S.-affiliated Pacific islands. The region has the lowest, driest desert in the country, the highest elevations within the 48 contiguous States, and the wettest tropical forests. It is the home of an abundant diversity of native plants and animals and nearly 50 percent of the nation's threatened and endangered species.

Nowhere is the competition for natural resources and land use higher or more controversial than in the Pacific Southwest region. Public awareness of environmental issues is more evident here than in any other part of the country. And yet per-capita consumption of natural resources in the region is the highest in the world.