The McIntire-Stennis (MS) Cooperative Forestry Research Program awards federal funding for forestry research and graduate education programs at state-certified schools of forestry and Land-Grant Institutions in the United States. The original legislation that provided this funding, a bipartisan initiative of Congressman Clifford McIntire (R) of Maine and Senator John Stennis (D) of Mississippi, was signed by President Kennedy in 1962. MS Program funds are distributed to each state based on a formula that considers the non-federal commercial forestland area, the annual timber harvest volume, and total non-federal forestry research expenditures. Funds are administered by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).

The University of Washington has received MS funding since the first year of this program. The School of Environmental and Forest Sciences (SEFS) distributes the award via an annual internal RFP process. The goals of the MS program align with the SEFS vision to provide world-class, internationally-recognized knowledge and leadership for environmental and natural resource issues by providing support for faculty-led forestry research and graduate student training.

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