Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry in Hilo among proposed closures of Forest Research and Development Facilities nationwide

The Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry in Hilo is among more than 50 U.S. Forest Service Research and Development Facilities that are slated for closure.

On Thursday, Hawai‘i U.S. Sen. Mazie K. Hirono, a senior member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, led 16 Senate Democratic colleagues in urging U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz to provide Congress with a full breakdown of the service’s decision to close these facilities.

“Since announcing the list of facilities being evaluated for possible closure in March, very little detail or analysis has been provided to Congress or the public on the factors being considered for each facility,” wrote the senators in a letter to Schultz. “Instead, official responses rely on broad assurances- stating only that the agency is assessing ‘operating costs, amount of space, utilization rate, number of employees’ and proximate facilities – without revealing the actual methodology or criteria driving these determinations.”

Despite multiple inquiries from both the Senate and House of Representatives, the U.S. Forest Service has failed to provide Congress with a comprehensive accounting of the framework used to evaluate facilities slotted for closure, according to a news release from Hirono’s office. In the letter to Schultz, the senators demanded the Trump Administration provide them with the information Congress has been requesting for the past several months.

In their letter the senators highlighted the Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry in Hilo, which not only covers the State of Hawai‘i, but a region in the Pacific covering an area larger than the Continental United States.

Operating since 1956, the institute meets the diverse information needs of natural resource managers across the Pacific, according to the facility’s website.

As well as leading cutting edge tropical research, through the work of Institute-based research staff, they also lead core science programs in a wide range of problem areas including: restoration silviculture, wetland systems management, invasive species control, ecological management of invaded ecosystems, the ecology and recovery of threatened, endangered, and at risk species, understanding and managing climate change impacts, and carbon cycling science and management.

Also highlighted were the Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Laboratory in Seattle and the Forestry Sciences Laboratory in Wenatchee, both of which conduct crucial wildfire research and forecasting for the Pacific Northwest region which is currently experiencing a record wildfire season.

Since 1905, Forest Service Research and Development has used forests as “living laboratories” to help researchers, governments, and communities alike better understand their surrounding natural environment. The 57 Forest Service Research and Development sites that are expected to close span 31 states and each perform critical, specialized research that cannot be easily replicated or relocated.

As the only research facilities of their kind in the regions they serve, the senators raised alarms about the consequences of their closure.

“We are very concerned that missing from the list of considerations are factors such as current benefits of research services provided to surrounding communities, what research services would be lost with facility closures, estimate of travel expenses resulting from facility closures, estimate on the number of staff unwilling or unable to relocate or travel an additional distance as a result of closing a facility, the replacement costs of each facility, etc.,” the senators continued.

The senators concluded their letter by emphasizing the importance of consulting with local communities and governments when analyzing sites for closure, raising alarms that such community collaboration has not, to their knowledge, occurred.

Read the full letter below.

Sen. Hirono letter to US Fire Service Chief Schultz by Tiffany De Masters