The Department of Forestry and Natural Resources is actively collaborating with these government organizations on a number of outreach and continuing education opportunities:
Hardwood Ecosystem Experiment (HEE)
In cooperation with Ball State University, Indiana University, and Indiana State University, the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources at Purdue University is creating a long-term field experiment on forest management, centered in the beginning at Morgan-Monroe State Forest. Additional collaborators are state government, the USDA Forest Service, and The Nature Conservancy. This project aims to determine the ecological and social impacts of long-term forest management on public and private lands in Indiana and the Central Hardwoods Region.
The idea is to create a series of study areas in which common forest management techniques will be used, and then study how a wide variety of organisms respond. The forest management techniques will include small clearcuts, single tree or small group selection cuts, and “no management” controls.
Indiana Department of Natural Resources Purdue FNR has teamed up with several divisions in the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Together the divisions and Purdue have created a joint extension publication series. Purdue FNR also conducts continuing education programs for natural resource professionals working for the state.
Indiana Division of Forestry The Division of Forestry partners with Purdue FNR on a number of projects. They provide funding for research including funding the Hardwood Ecosystem Experiment and research projects with specific faculty members.
Indiana Division of Wildlife The Division of Wildlife also partners to provide funding for wildlife research, including the genetics of endangered species, animal damage, and fisheries surveys.
USDA Forest Service The USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station provides partial funding for the Hardwood Tree Improvement and Regeneration Center at Purdue University. This funding supports research and technology transfer positions. Research at the HTIRC focuses on hardwood productivity in the Central Hardwoods forest region including both afforestation/reforestation and silviculture.