Mission & Values
Mission
Our mission is to preserve and help people use the documents of forest history. The Forest History Society identifies, collects, interprets, and disseminates historical information on the relationship of humans and forests, contributing to informed natural resource decision-making.
Vision
FHS will remain the recognized leader in forest history and the primary contact for inquiries from around the world. Its archives will remain unsurpassed. Its outreach efforts to make history relevant to current forest policy and management will become its hallmark.
Primary Goals
- Strengthen financial resources sufficient to allow FHS to support its mission and vision for the future.
- Ensure effective governance to execute the FHS strategy.
- Collect and preserve holdings and improve access to the FHS library and archives.
- Expand FHS programming and publications that enhance knowledge of forest history for diverse publics.
- Strengthen visibility and engagement by building the brand, increasing outreach and cultivating collaborations.
The Values We Believe In
- The continuity and interconnectedness of forests and human events and that knowledge of the past provides insights to guide the future.
- Preservation of records of historical significance, and maintaining their quality and integrity to serve present and future generations.
- Documenting the diversity of peoples’ relationships and experiences with forests through time, and encouraging all individuals and groups to share their stories and perspectives.
- Bringing the lessons of forest history to bear on the complex social, ecological, economic and political forest policy issues of today.
- Scholarship and the importance of applying intellectual skills to advance excellence in the study, analysis, and interpretation of forest and conservation history.
- Sharing information and knowledge among all interested in forests and conservation, and contributing to a public enlightenment about the values that the forests have had for humankind.
- Partnerships and the ensuing synergy among those who wish to support, preserve, study, and apply our heritage of forests and conservation; and our responsibility to contribute to an international network of interested citizens.
