International Union of Societies of Foresters

(IUSF)

5400 Grosvenor Lane

Bethesda, MD 20814-2198

September 24, 1999

Dear Foresters:

We write as President and the Futures Committee of the International Union of Societies of Foresters (IUSF) to apologize for our long silence, and to say that we are in the process of reassessing IUSF's future.

As a leader of a professional forestry organization which is a member of the International Union of Societies of Forestry, you are undoubtedly aware that international communication and cooperation among professional foresters has never been more important than it is now. Global issues, from forest certification to global warming, increasingly require solutions that cross international boundaries. If foresters and other natural resource managers, and their professional organizations, are to be adequately heard on these issues, we need to listen and talk to each other more effectively.

Through e-mail and the IUSF listserve we hope to engage you in a discussion on the future of IUSF. If you would like to enter this conversation, please respond by answering the questions below in your reply. To subscribe to iusf-saf@igc.org simply send an e-mail to majordomo@igc.org, leave the subject line blank, and write: subscribe iusf-saf in the body of the e-mail. When posting to the listserve after you have subscribed you will simply send e-mail to

iusf-saf@igc.org.

+More information on IUSF'S purpose and history can be found at www.safnet.org/policy/iusf.htm.

If you would like to enter this conversation, please respond by answering the questions below in your reply.

Our questions are:

• 1. What is your Society's correct e-mail and mail address? Also list the current officers of your Society and their e-mail, phone and addresses.

• 2. Do you have an interest in a positive future for IUSF and its goal of effective communication among national forestry societies?

• 3. Please reflect on the current stated goal of the IUSF. Should it be changed? If so, to what?

• 4. One possible future for IUSF is as a "virtual" society, reliant on the Internet. What do you think the IUSF ought to do about its structure and governance, membership, dues, functions, headquarters location, and other modalities of operation?

• 5. How can IUSF best reach out to the members of national societies for ideas?

• 6. What actions should be taken now? What should be studied?

Please let us have your most candid thoughts. Within the next 12 months, we will use your input to frame possible futures for IUSF. Use this listserv to share all sorts of information and thoughts about forestry issues with the others on the list. We feel that this possibility goes toward fulfilling a part of IUSF's overall goals.

Thank you for your time and thoughts.

Sincerely,

John Gordon Ralph Roberts

IUSF President Past President

Canadian Institute of Forestry/Institut forestier du Canada

William Banzhaf Roxanne Comeau

IUSF Director - United States Executive Director

Canadian Institute of Forestry/Institut forestier du Canada

Howard Heiner

IUSF Executive Director