Forestry (formally known as silviculture) is the art, science, and practice of studying and managing forests and related natural resources. A strong body of research and development exists regarding the managing of forest ecosystems, selecting species and varieties, and tree breeding. Forestry also includes the development of better methods for the planting, protecting, thinning, controlled burning, felling, extracting and processing of trees, timber and wood.

In many countries, the forest industry is of major ecological, economic, and social importance. Third-party certification systems that provide independent verification of sound forest stewardship and sustainable forestry have become commonplace in many areas since the 1990s.

A division has arisen in recent years between advocates and opponents of active forest management, as growing concerns about environmental problems arising from massive deforestation (especially in the equatorial rain forests) have recently highlighted forestry as an issue for serious environmentalist debate.

Sir Dietrich Brandis is considered the father of tropical forestry.

Forestry education

The first dedicated forestry school was established by George Hartig at Dillenburg in Germany in 1787, though forestry had been taught much earlier in central Europe. The first forestry school in North America was near Asheville, North Carolina, in the Appalachian Mountains of the southeastern U.S., where George Vanderbilt saw the devastation that logging had left behind. The grounds of his Biltmore Estate are almost entirely managed forest, which has grown from bare ground to mature trees since 1895.

See also

• Urban Forestry

de:Forstwirtschaft fr:Sylviculture ja:林業 sv:Skogsbruk zh:林业