Pacific Northwest Research Station

PNW Research Station aligns to maintain science capacity into the future

USDA Forest Service
Pacific Northwest Research Station

Portland, OR November 5, 2009

Contact

Sherri Richardson Dodge, (503) 808-2137, srichardsondodge@fs.fed.us

PORTLAND, Ore. November 5, 2009. The U.S. Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station has realigned its organizational structure. Under the newly aligned organization, the station is centered on science themes found in its updated strategic business plan.

The station now has six research programs:

• Ecological Process and Function
• Resources Monitoring and Assessment
• Goods, Services, and Values
• Land and Watershed Management
• Threat Characterization and Management
• Focused Science Delivery

No positions were eliminated as a result of the alignment. Scientists and technical staff were reassigned to programs or teams that are, in some cases, different from the ones they were previously affiliated with but that better align with the new programs.

Central to the alignment are the newly defined “four pillars”—relevance, quality, performance, and stakeholder support—which Station Director Bov Eav and the leadership team will use to guide and measure the station’s success as it demonstrates its value to constituents.

The alignment process began in spring 2008, when the leadership conducted a review to evaluate if the station was optimally structured to address future opportunities and challenges. The review also sought to determine if the station was responsive, flexible, efficient, and capable of fully implementing the strategic business plan.

The outcome of the review was the determination that realignment was necessary, the net effect of which was the elimination of one research program and the revision of the six that remained so that they correspond directly to the foundational science themes established in the strategic business plan.

The PNW Research Station is headquartered in Portland, Oregon. It has 11 laboratories and centers located in Alaska, Oregon, and Washington and about 425 employees. Visit the station Web page at http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/.

Note: The station is currently in the process of updating its Web page and contact directory.