FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 10, 2017 — COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Dr. Chris Edgar of Texas A&M Forest Service has been awarded the 2016 Vice Chancellor’s Award in Excellence for Public Service in Forestry from Texas A&M AgriLife.
The award was presented Jan. 9 at the AgriLife Conference on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station.
Edgar manages the Forest Economics and Resource Analysis program of Texas A&M Forest Service. This program provides information and analysis on conditions and trends in the state’s forest resources, wood utilization and marketing, economic contributions of the forest sector, timber prices, valuation of ecosystem services and forest taxation.
With a great command of the Forest Inventory and Analysis program, a sort of census for trees, Edgar pioneered FIA for urban forests, helping provide state and Southern United States regional depictions of forests along the continuum from a community’s urban core to rural areas. His work with this program aids natural resource professionals in better addressing forest health, insect and disease issues related to species diversity and density across the landscape. It also helps show the relationship between urban forestry and traditional forestry, thereby helping state agencies better understand the impact of urbanization.
In addition to helping develop and launch the Urban FIA program, Edgar integrated technology and communications with the complex data and analysis by creating the online My City’s Trees application so that it is user-friendly and easily accessible.
“Dr. Edgar early recognized the need for outreach to communities and led the design of the web app my City’s Trees,” said Dudley Hartel, Science Delivery Technology Coordinator for Urban Forestry South of the USDA Forest Service. “The app is a first-line communications tool for community outreach for all cities in the national UFIA program.”
Edgar is regarded across the nation by forestry partners as a source that helps bridge complex data and public accessibility.
“He has advanced urban forest inventory and analysis to the gain of Texas communities,” Burl Carraway, Sustainable Forestry Department Head for Texas A&M Forest Service said. “He is truly a public servant in forestry.”
The Vice Chancellor’s Awards in Excellence were established in 1980 to recognize the commitment and outstanding contributions of faculty and staff across Texas A&M AgriLife and provide opportunity to celebrate the achievements of those honored.
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Editor’s Note: Photos on Flickr
Texas A&M Forest Service Communications
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