A holiday message from School of Environmental and Forest Sciences director Dan Brown:

The end of the year brings an opportunity to reflect on family and community. Approaching the end of my second year at SEFS, I am feeling a profound sense of gratitude for the SEFS community. I am grateful, particularly, for the rich diversity of perspectives that come together in the SEFS community, our practical orientation toward sustainable human-resource interactions, and for the passion and commitment our faculty, staff, and students bring to our work. 

We have been engaged in some challenging work together. The holidays give us a bit of a break from our year of reviews. We completed the ABET accreditation site visit for the BSE program with flying colors and successfully submitted our progress report for the Society of American Foresters accreditation this fall. In winter term, we will be visited by our 10-year Academic Program Review team, coordinated by the Graduate School. This year of reviews, along with the fascinating conversations between the University of Washington Botanic Gardens and the Arboretum Foundation about new opportunities in that partnership, have provided a moment for us to think about where we are and where we are going together. Faculty conversations about future hiring priorities, during a time of downward budget pressures, provide added impetus for us to think forward and strategically. 

One thing that I find particularly striking about the SEFS community, is our porous boundaries, marked by deep engagement with diverse communities of practice and resource management agencies in the region and around the world. Our academic work is at its best when it engages questions that are both at the forefront of science and of practical importance in resource management. For this reason, our partnerships, many established and sustained by alums of our program, have been key to the success of our community. I have learned the importance of these partnerships through fascinating interactions with our partners at the U.S. Forest Service, USGS, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, WA Departments of Natural Resources, Fish and Wildlife, and Ecology, The Nature Conservancy, the City of Seattle Departments of Parks and Recreation and Public Utilities, multiple native tribes, multiple private firms and numerous nonprofits. These partnerships enliven our research and teaching, provide research and internship opportunities for our students, and enhance the impact of our work.

Thanks to all SEFS faculty, staff, and students for the hard work in which you are engaged, and thanks to all our partners and alumni who keep us grounded and connected. This is a special community and I remain as excited as I was two years ago about where we can go together.