There is still much we don't know about forest ecosystems but each day is leading to new discoveries. Each animal, insect and plant contains its individual genetic material that has been evolving for thousands of years. Protecting the forests does not just mean saving a lot of trees, it is preserving a process of life that started billions of years ago. Forests and people are connected, and have been since ancient times. We have always had a special relationship based on survival. It was a delicate chain of existence that we once treated with respect and appreciation. But people began to upset this balance. They used the seemingly limitless forest, cutting down millions of trees.

Understanding forests and what all they represent, is the need of the hour. Certain government and non-governmental organizations in India have been working in this area for long. A pioneer of sorts among them, is the Forest Research Institute situated at Dehradun.

Established in 1906, the Forest Research Institute, Dehra Dun, is one of the oldest institutions of its kind, and acclaimed the world over. The Institute's history is virtually synonymous with the evolution and development of scientific forestry, not only in India, but over the entire Indian sub-continent. Set in a lush green estate spread over 450 hectares, with the outer Himalaya forming its back drop, the Institute's main building is an impressive edifice, marrying Greco-Roman and Colonial styles of architecture, with a plinth area of 2.5 equipped laboratories, library, herbarium, arboreta, printing press and experimental field areas for conducting forestry research, quite in keeping with the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Its museums, in addition to being a valuable source of scientific information, are a major attraction for tourists.

OBJECTIVES

The Institute caters, in particular, to the research needs of the Indo-Gangetic plains of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Western Uttar Pradesh, as Well as the U.P. Himalayas. Forestry research at the FRI is organised under fourteen divisions.

RESEARCH

Since its establishment, the Institute has rendered Yeoman service to the forestry sector, not only within the country, but internationally as well. Research achievements of this Institute in the field of silviculture, now spanning over 50 years, have founded the edifice of forestry and scientific forest management in our country. Valuable scientific knowledge has been generated and documented on the silviculture of over 550 species of trees; classification of forest types of India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar; silviculture sytems for tropical forests; successful introduction of exotics, Eucalyptus, poplars, Tropical Pines, Acacias and Leucaena leucocephala; seed technology of over 80 important forest tree seeds, and management of bamboos. Over 2000 sample plots, established over the years, have provided data for compiling yield and volume tables for over 120 tree species. Preservation plots established throughout the country since 1929, have helped gain a better understanding of forest ecology, biodiversity and the environment. The Institute's achievements in forest products research, particularly during the world wars, have contributed valuably to the development of forest-based industries in the country. The Arsenic-Copper Chromate treatment for wood preservation, developed by the Institute, is now widely adopted throughout the world. Investigation and documentation have helped timber utilising industries. The Institute has also pioneered the process of pulping bamboos for paper making.

Over thirty five tools, developed by the Institute's Forest Operations Division, have proved a boon to workers engaged in field forestry operations, such as logging and tending, vastly improving efficiency levels, and simultaneously contributing valuably towards the conservation of precious timber resources.

Study and development of termite control measures and control of insect pests of Sal, Shisham, Teak and Babul, rank among the foremost achievements of the Entomology Division of the Forest Research Institute. Similarly, many pioneering works have been accomplished in the field of Forest mycology and pathology. Forest nurseries over the country nave benefited immensely, producing quality seedlings using insect-pest and disease control practices pioneered at this Institute.

Notable among achievements in Forest Genetics are the development of hybrids of Eucalyptus, capable of producing a larger biomass, viz, FRI-4 and FRI-5, creation of model seed orchards of teak and semul, and tissue culture of eucalyptus.

Research in Non-wood Forest Products (NWFP) at FRI has led to several noteworthy achievements of immense industrial importance, such as the development of Rill method of tapping pines for resin extraction, perfection of techniques for katha extraction from khair, extraction of oxalic acid from bark of Terminalia tomentosa and T. arjuna and cultivation and utilisation practices of a number of exotic aromatic and drug yielding plants.

The herbarium maintained by the Institute houses 330.000 authenticated plant specimens, the best in the East. Its Xylarium, with a collection of over 18,000 wood specimens from India and abroad qualifies the Institute as the best source of reference for wood identification.

FRI DEEMED UNIVERSITY

On the basis of recommendation of the UGC, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (Government of India) declared the Forest Research Institute to be a Deemed University vide its notification No.F-9-25/89-U-3, dated 6th December,1991.

The Forest Research Institute `Deemed University' conducts the following academic activities :