About the Station

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 FS R&D in the states of California and Hawaiʻi 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 home to an abundant diversity of native plants and animals and nearly half of the Nation's threatened and endangered species. PSW scientists conduct a broad array of natural resources research to achieve our mission to "develop and communicate science needed to sustain forest ecosystems and their benefits to society."