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- The USDA Forest Service Research and Development (FS R&D) is the world's
largest forestry research organization FS R&D conducts ecological and social
science research to understand ecosystems, how humans influence those systems,
and how to manage for sustained and enhanced benefits. FS R&D operates six
Research Station, the Forest Products Laboratory, and the International
Institute of Tropical Forestry. It employs 524 scientists, as well as several
hundred technical and support personnel, located at 65 sites throughout the
United States.
The Pacific Southwest Research Station represents the Forest Service R&D in the
States of California and Hawaii and the U.S.-affiliated Pacific islands. The
region has the lowest, driest desert in the country, the highest elevations
within the 48 contiguous States, and the wettest tropical forests. It is the
home of an abundant diversity of native plants and animals and nearly 50
percent of the nation's threatened and endangered species.
Website: "http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/ipif/"
[Summary provided by the USDA.]
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