More than 37% of the State of Brandenburg are covered with forests. Modern forestry has to meet several ecological and economical requirements: Timber production, recreation, protection of natural resources and conservation of nature. For sustainable management of our forests, solid scientific knowledges are necessary. Forestry research is based at Eberswalde for more than 125 years. Todays Eberswalde Forestry Institute continues in this tradition to cope with present and future demands of forestry. On behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture, Environmental Protection and Landscape Planning, the Eberswalde Forestry Institute was founded in 1998 and consits of 20 working groups with more than 150 employees in six departments: - planning of forest development - forest ecology - silviculture - forest protection and survey - forest economics/development of computer based systems - forest training. The institute offers scientific and technical services for public forest agencies, as well as for private forest owners and non-governmental organisations and also contributes to the education and training of students and foresters. Of major importance is the exchange of knowledge between research and practical forest management. To strengthen the network of research institutions in Eberswalde, the Forest Research Institute has cooperative agreements with teh Eberswalde University for Applied Forestry, the German Federal Research Centre for Forestry and Forest Products and other environmental institutions (e.g. Brandenburg State Agency for large-scale Protected Sites).
