Collaborating with industry, communities and academic partners lets us turn research into real-world solutions that make a difference. Together, we drive innovation, create opportunities and set new standards in natural resource management. These partnerships expand our reach and multiply our impact. By working as one, we deliver results that matter locally, nationally and globally.

Cooperatives and Centers

Tree Improvement Cooperative

The Cooperative Tree Improvement Program, a project of the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, conducts vital research to improve tree genetics for landowners, foresters, forest companies and the forest products industry, combining traditional tree breeding with advanced biological, chemical and data analysis technologies.

Forest Productivity Cooperative

The Forest Productivity Cooperative is an international partnership with Virginia Tech and Universidad de Concepción that unites experts in silviculture, forest nutrition, ecophysiology, soils and related fields to develop innovative, sustainable solutions that enhance forest productivity and value.

Camcore (Central America and Mexico Coniferous Resources Cooperative)

Camcore is an international organization that conserves tropical and subtropical trees by collecting seeds from threatened forests and planting them on protected member lands. Using one of the world’s largest databases on tropical and subtropical pines, it supports field trials to evaluate species productivity and demonstrates how private, public and academic sectors can combine conservation with sustainable, profitable forest management.

Christmas Tree Research Lab and Extension Programs

The Christmas Molecular Tree Breeding Lab and Christmas Tree Research and Extension Programs improve the growth, quality and pest resistance of key North Carolina Christmas tree species, including Fraser fir, Virginia pine, eastern white pine and eastern red cedar. The programs also screen new species and conduct genetic conservation efforts for Fraser fir, a globally threatened species.

Consortia

Southern Forest Resource Assessment Consortium

The Southern Forest Resource Assessment Consortium is a university-government-industry partnership that develops market models for application to forest resource assessments in the United States and around the world. The consortium’s modelers and members use a suite of models and research to project timber inventory, supply and prices for a variety of regions and a variety of timber products across the global south. 

Sustainable and Alternative Fibers Initiative

The Sustainable and Alternative Fibers Initiative is a global university-industry partnership that researches, develops and promotes alternative fibers for sustainable products, addressing the challenges that limit their widespread adoption.