The Centre for Forest Research
The Centre for Forest Research (CFR, CEF in French) is a new university-based creation unique to Quebec that draws together scientific expertise in forestry from across the province. This new centre extends the mandate of its predecessors (CRBF and GREFi), favouring an overall vision that links understanding of the function roles of organisms and dynamic processes in forest ecosystems with the design of innovative alternatives related to forest management(planning strategies and silvicultural practices). The strength of this regrouping lies in its ability to integrate appropriate scientific knowledge that is required to conceive new strategies and practices which will permit the shift from current management approaches to ecosystem-based management of provincial forest lands, a key recommendation of the recent Coulombe Commission Report, Commission d’étude sur la gestion de la forêt publique québécoise 
(Rapport Coulombe, December 2004). The direction of the Centre has been assumed by Professor Christian Messier of the Department of Biological Sciences of the University of Quebec at Montreal.
History
CEF arose from the merger of the CRBF (In English, the Centre for Research in Forest Biology) and GREFi (In English, the Inter-University Forest Ecology Research Group). This new centre brings together 51 scientists from eight Quebec universities (Concordia, McGill, UQAC, UQAM, UQAT, the University of Montreal, the University of Sherbrooke and Laval University), and nearly 19 associate scientists, who are distributed among the universities and various governmental institutions. With the inclusion of 100-plus doctoral students and more than 150 master's students, CEF is the largest forest ecology research group in Canada and one of the most important in the world.
The two centres that preceded CEF were originally created more than 20 years ago.
The CRBF was founded in 1985 by researchers at Laval University, and from its inception, was devoted to research and advanced training in forest biology. By 1986, the Centre was already recognised by FQRNT (The Fund for Research on Nature and Technologies), a provincial agency whose unique recognition of forestry research and its funding requirements was maintained until April 2004. During this period, new collaborations had been established at both provincial and international levels to create a dynamic research network in forest biology and ecology. Professor J. André Fortin was the first director of the CRBF, and was succeeded in the post by professors Maurice Lalonde, André P. Plamondon, Jean Bousquet, Louis Bernier and André Desrochers. From the seven professors and 30 or more students who initially formed the CRBF, the Centre had grown by 2004 to include 22 regular researchers and 11 associate researchers, more than 150 student members, and a staff of more than 50 research professionals, post-docs, and support personnel.
GREFi was founded in 1987 by three professors in the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Quebec at Montreal (UQAM). In 1997, the Centre (GREF) truly became a inter-universitary group, as GREFi now included researchers and their students from McGill University (both the downtown and Macdonald College campuses), Concordia University, the University of Montreal, the National Institute of Scientific Research (INRS - Armand Frappier Institute), the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi (UQAC) and the University of Quebec in Abitibi-Temiscamingue (UQAT), together with a number of scientists from eight other institutions. GREFi facilitated the gathering of specialists in various disciplines, who concentrated their efforts on forging a better understanding of forest ecosystems. In 2005, GREFi was headed by Professor Pierre Drapeau, and at that time, included 33 regular members and 27 associate members, about 80 students at the master's level, 65 students at the doctoral level, about 20 post-doctoral associates, as well as 20 support staff.
Mission
The strength of the CEF lies in its integration of scientific information necessary to conceive strategies and furnish practical knowledge that will permit the shift from management practices that are currently employed in Quebec forestry to ecosystem-based management of provincial forest lands. Forest management in the 21st century must also take into account numerous emerging phenomena (biological invasions, climate change, habitat fragmentation).
In response to these challenges, the scientific mission of the CEF is to better understand the function and dynamics of forest ecosystems, the interactions between their components, as well as their distinctive biologies, within a perspective that reconciles conservation of biodiversity with increasing basic commercial productivity.
Our mission encompasses four research axes:
- Genetics, molecular biology and physiology
- Population dynamics, biodiversity and conservation biology
- Forest function and development of new silvicultural approaches
- Historical disturbance and strategies for sustainable forest management.
Laval Summer School: Bryophytes of the boreal forest (2005)
Based on this scientific knowledge, the principal social mission of the CEF is to produce highly qualified personnel in the fields associated with the four research axes and to contribute vigorously to the transfer of knowledge to these partners and to the public through close collaboration with organisations of information transfer. The CEF is anxious to increase its international profile capable of meeting the new challenges to forest management and conservation in a manner both scientifically credible and multidisciplinary. With this intention in mind, we are financially supporting international internships, visits by well-known scientists, thematic courses, and annual colloquia. Also, we have set in place an integrated network of research professionals, who are specialists at the service of scientists and students in all our member institutions. Researchers with the CEF have recently begun many international collaborations, and together we hope to consolidate existing collaborations and forge new ones thanks to these incentives to our researchers and students. Closer to home, efforts at technology transfer will be increased through a strategy of improved communication.
Executive Committee
 | Director: Christian Messier |  | Québec representative: AlisonMunson |  | Montréal representative: Lael Parrott |
 | Abitibi Témiscamingue representative: Louis Imbeau |  | Sherbrooke representative: Bill Shipley | ||
 | Représentant des membres associés & chercheurs gouvernementaux: NelsonThiffault |
