April 2003, Volume 4, Issue 1

I had a cup of coffee with Steve Beissinger, Chair of the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, to learn about a tremendously exciting and extremely important new institution that has been established within the UC system and centered in Berkeley’s College of Natural Resources. This new unit will substantially enhance research in ecosystems and natural resources, including, of course, forests.

The new unit is called the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU). It is the most recent initiative by the Federal Government to enhance its capacity to develop new knowledge in natural resources. Federal agencies currently participating in other CESUs include: The Bureau of Land Management, US Bureau of Reclamation, US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Geological Survey, National Park Service, Agricultural Research Service, USDA Forest Service, Natural Resource Conservation Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

There are now about a dozen federal Cooperative Units in the U.S. with UC’s being the newest and by far the largest. The CESU involves collaboration among over 1,000 scientists plus numerous students on UC’s ten campuses and three campuses of the Cal. State University System—San Francisco, Fresno, and Los Angeles. By agreement among the UC campuses, Berkeley was chosen to administer the Unit with the College of Natural Resources providing administrative space in Mulford Hall. The Unit has two Faculty Coordinators—Steve Beissinger and Craig Moritz, Director of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. One reason why UC Berkeley was chosen to administer the Unit is CNR’s success in managing similar collaborative, multi-institutional research units such the Integrated Hardwood Range Management Program (IHRMP) and the Wildland Resource Center (WRC)—both housed in Mulford Hall. Also important were the College’s successful campus-based Center for Forestry and CAMFER that focuses on GIS and environmental modeling/analysis. Establishing the CESU in Mulford Hall will therefore allow an unusual focus on collaborative research.

For more details contact Steve Beissinger at beis@nature.berkeley.edu or see the website at: http://www.nature.nps.gov/cesu

Establishment of the Unit progressed rapidly from its initiation last Spring by CNR’s Interim Dean Richard Malkin and Assoc. Dean Barbara Allen-Diaz, approval and enthusiastic support by Beth Burnside Vice Chancellor for Research at Berkeley, a site visit last fall, and approval by the Federal Government this January. A major factor resulting in the Unit being established at Berkeley was the proposal’s emphasis on a distributive model in which the Unit serves as a clearinghouse that distributes requests for research activities to the optimum mix of scientists regardless of academic affiliation. The potential benefit to Berkeley and other collaborating institutions is enhanced capacity to carry out research and support students. Initial focus will be on physical, natural, and social systems. Benefits to the federal agencies include access to the extraordinary breadth of expertise of UC and CSU faculty and students that will enable them to address issues of importance to the nation. Initially, two federal research scientists plus 1-2 staff will likely be appointed to the Berkeley campus; additional federal scientists will be assigned to other UC and CSU campuses

Increasingly, the Federal Government needs new science to enhance understanding of ecosystems and natural resources and to make science-informed decisions. Establishment of the CESU at Berkeley and having it physically located in the College of Natural Resources greatly enhances both Berkeley’s and the College’s visibility and focus on natural resources, forests, and the environment.