Northeastern States Research Cooperative

**Who We Are** The Northeastern States Research Cooperative (NSRC) is a competitive grant program supporting cross-disciplinary, collaborative research in the Northern Forest—a 30-million-acre working landscape that is home to more than two million residents and stretches from eastern Maine through New Hampshire and Vermont and into northern New York. NSRC addresses the importance of the Northern Forest to society and the need to work collaboratively with the people who live within its boundaries, work with its resources, use its products, visit it, and care about it. An Executive Committee governs the NSRC collaboratively. Four state institutional directors and one regional director are responsible for finalizing the roster of research projects for funding. The listing of directors and managers can be found on the [Contacts page](https://nsrcforest.org/executive-committee/). The NSRC funds research with clear links to application and use by stakeholders and decision-makers in the Northern Forest region. **History** The NSRC supports cross-disciplinary, collaborative research in the Northern Forest — a 26-million acre working landscape that is home to about two million residents and stretches from eastern Maine through New Hampshire and Vermont and into northern New York. Broad research goals are stipulated in the NSRC congressional authorization. A central component of the program is the importance of the Northern Forest to society and the need for research activities to have relevance and benefit to “the people who live within its boundaries, work with its resources, use its products, visit it, and care about it.” The history of the Northeastern States Research Cooperative (NSRC) traces back more than two decades. In the 1980s, the unique Northern Forest region — a 26-million acre working landscape with unique recreation opportunities, vast forested watersheds, and a diversity of northern wildlife — was elevated as a priority for national protection when concerns arose that remaining forest land and its timber were being lost to unplanned fragmentation and real estate speculation. At that time, the governors of Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and New York turned to the region’s congressional delegations to formally create the Northern Forest Lands Council (NFLC) in order to address these land-use change and community concerns. In 1994, the NFLC published *[Finding Common Ground: Conserving the Northern Forest (PDF)](https://nsrcforest.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Finding_Common_Ground.NFLC_.1994.pdf)* which, among other priorities, called for the formation of a four-state research cooperative to develop a better understanding of the region’s social, economic, and environmental challenges. The congressional authorization for the Northeastern States Research Cooperative was passed as part of [Public Law 105-185](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-105publ185/pdf/PLAW-105publ185.pdf).