With little more than one year before the lights are turned off, the Sustainable Forest Management Network of Centres of Excellence (SFM Network) is thinking about life beyond the NCE program. It is contemplating the creation of a virtual national organization that can deal with national issues and attract partners by extending its focus beyond its traditional focus of research.

The SFM Network held its final national conference earlier this month and while the issue of carrying on beyond the 14 years of NCE funding wasn't on the agenda, it was percolating through many of the discussions on the future of SFM research in Canada.

"We're looking at the social capital built up through the network. That set of relationships is quite critical, says Dr James Fyles, SFM's scientific director. "I would hope that something comes forward that is a coalition of provinces, industry and academia. We hope to make it broader than forests."

The end of the SFM Network comes at a time of unprecedented turmoil and competitive pressures for the Canadian forestry industry, further compounded by a dysfunctional tenure system. Industry has consistently failed to provide value add to Canadian forest products, and competition from China and other emerging nations is causing widespread disruption.

"We're in a new world and we need new policies," says Dr Martin Luckert, a research er with the Univ of Alberta's department of rural economy. "We need a much more flexible tenure system because right now we have the antithesis of a flexible system. Instead of command and control, we need to switch to management by objectives."

SFM research has brought together a diverse coalition of groups that value the continuing viability of Canada's forests and forest products. But without a funded network in the future, a new model is required.

One option was introduced at the conference by Dr Buzz Holling, a renowned Canadian ecologist with a 60-year career in science. Holling says the concept of a virtual organization with no assets and just enough funding to further scientific inquiry and train new researchers.

"That's exactly what we're talking about — a virtual organization of the willing," says Fyles. "We need to have a very high level umbrella organization where the synthesis will happen ... The NCE hard line on 14 years (of funding) has been helpful. It has precipitated very serious introspection and discussion about the value proposition of this network."

Without a follow-on organization, however, Fyles says there's a danger that the achievements of the last 14 years will be largely lost.

"We'd have to go through 14 years of evolution again to even start asking the questions."

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