WSU forestry program may be cut

PULLMAN – Washington is called The Evergreen State, but its only accredited undergraduate program in forestry is in danger of being axed.

The major at Washington State University has only about 20 students and might be slashed as part of a general reform of the school’s less-popular offerings. Ten years ago forestry had 50 majors.

“It’s not as attractive as it was,” said Keith Blatner, chairman of the department of natural resource sciences. “Sometimes forestry is strictly associated with cutting trees or being part of the forest products industry, which is not an accurate perspective.”

Washington State President Elson Floyd has told WSU deans to evaluate the strength of their programs with a goal of focusing scarce resources on majors where WSU is a leader or has the potential to lead. Academic departments also were asked to cut 1.5 percent from their budgets, and the College of Agriculture, Human and Natural Resource Sciences is considering doing that by cutting forestry.

Officials stress that no final decision has been made.

Across the state, the University of Washington offers a master’s in forestry, but its bachelor’s program is not accredited by the Society of American Foresters.

Area timber companies and government agencies won’t run out of foresters, because the universities of Idaho, Montana and Oregon State have large forestry programs, as do many other colleges around the country.

Timber giant Weyerhaeuser gets many of its foresters from East Coast universities like Yale and North Carolina, as well as regional schools, spokesman Frank Mendizabel said.

But critics say it is ridiculous for a state where 50 percent of the land is covered in forests to be without an accredited bachelor’s program in forestry.

“I think it is imperative as a land grant university that they be working in that area,” said Scott Swanson, a WSU graduate and vice president of West Fork Timber Co. of Tacoma.

Of the three foresters in his company, two are from WSU, Swanson said. Killing the program would be shortsighted because many foresters are nearing retirement, Swanson said.

Bruce Mackey, of the state Department of Natural Resources, is on the advisory board for WSU’s College of Agriculture, Human and Natural Resource Sciences, and said the university wants to focus on areas of national and international excellence.

“WSU’s perspective is that forestry is not in that category,” Mackey said.

Some people believe forestry programs have fallen out of favor with students because the name has negative connotations tied to clear-cutting and other destructive practices.

Bruce Bare, dean of the University of Washington forestry program, said many programs, including his, have changed names in recent years because of that. Washington’s forestry program is now called the College of Forest Resources. Enrollment is 216 undergraduate and 146 graduate students.

“Students are interested in environmental or natural resources management, but are not attracted to something titled forestry or forest management,” Bare said.