Are We Obligated to Help Apply as Well as Create Knowledge to Enhance and Protect our Private and Public Forests?.

S. A. Wilde pioneered forest soil science in the U. S. during the 1940s and 50s, a time when forestry was more a process of hunting and gathering wood than the application of research results for forest land management. The last two chapters of Wilde’s 1958 text book condensed his research for forest management applications, but it was decades later before these principles were applied to any degree. Our generation of scientists has had the pleasure of seeing the public benefit from applied forest soils research, but most of us spend little time concerned about the potential application of our own work. With pressing national sustainability issues, governments, trustees, donors, and the public are encouraging us to become more engaged in meeting immediate public needs. How can we help apply as well as create knowledge and be as relevant as possible? I recommend that we be experts at something and good at lots of things; be accessible and responsive to all clientele individually and as groups; encourage joint definition of problems and questions; develop partnerships with stakeholders rather then conveying an impression of higher authority; include young scientists and students in outreach as well as research activity.  In the process of executing research, use powerful experimental designs that can be demonstrated to the public; pursue both short and long-term relevant questions; stay neutral and maintain our objectivity and integrity; simultaneously discover, integrate, apply, and transfer knowledge.  In the process of reaching out, make sure we are helping our sponsors with their agenda, not ours; and let’s always give credit to our partners and thank our donors.