Evaluating social benefits of forestry research programs

In 1979, the Forest Service in the U.S. Department of Agriculture began a serious and continuing evaluation of the impacts of its research programs on society. This effort responded to demanding questions about who benefited and in what ways from forestry research. A hasty inquiry le I both to “Criteria for Deciding about Forestry Research Programs” [3] and to a hindsight evaluation of 81 innovations. This evaluation utilized the well-known tracing technique and identified social benefits. Research administrators quickly realized that innovations might be a useful unit by which to evaluate regional experiment stations. One experiment station is trying to use innovations, really three categories of achievements, as the basis for evaluating its recent contributions to society. In another vein, a concerted effort is underway to adapt to forestry the methodology used in evaluating costs and benefits of agricultural research. The Forest Service also is attempting a novel and unique ex ante evaluation of expected benefits from the current and proposed national programs of research.