Forest Research Institute - FRI

About Forest Research Institute - FRI

Forest Research Institute (FRI) - Dehradun made a humble beginning from the Forest School established in 1878. FRI, Dehradun erstwhile known as Imperial Forest Research Institute was established in 1906 to organize and lead forestry research activities in the country. Later renamed as Forest Research Institute and Colleges, with a number of centres located at different places all over the country administering research as well as training of Forest Officers and Forest Rangers. After reorganization of Forestry Research in the country and creation of Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) in 1988, the training and research centres were given an independent status of institutes. FRI, Dehradun is a premier institution under the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE). As per the Notification no. F.9-25/89-03, Ministry of Human Resource & Development, Dept. of Education, Govt. of India Dated 6th December, 1991 the Forest Research Institute-dehradun shall be deemed to be a University (Published in Gazette of India, Part I,Section I).  Set in a lush green estate spread over 450 hectares, with the outer Himalayas forming its back drop, the Institute's main building is an impressive edifice, marrying Greco-Roman and Colonial styles of architecture, with a plinth area of 2.5 equipped laboratories,library, herbarium, arboreta, printing press and experimental field areas for conducting forestry research, quite in keeping with the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Its museums, in addition to being a valuable source of scientific information, are a major attraction for tourists. The institute caters, in particular, to the research needs of the States of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. It offers three courses leading to M.Sc. Degree and two Post-Graduate Diploma Courses, besides awarding Ph.D. degree in Forestry. The institute Faculty is also drawn from professional institutes like Wildlife Institute of India, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy, Forest Survey of India, Indian Council of Agriculture Research, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology and other reputed Institutions. International faculty by way of specialists from Germany, is also on the regular faculty rolls of the university.

Programs & Courses Offered

Master's Degree Programs

• M.Sc. Forestry.
• M.Sc. Environment Management.
• M.Sc. Wood Science & Technology.

Post Master's Diploma

• Natural Resource Management.
• Non wood Forest Products.

Post Graduate Diploma

• Pulp & Paper Technology.

Location  - FRI and College Area campus is a census town, between Dehradun Cantonment in the north and the Indian Military Academy to the south. The Tons River forms its Western Boundary. Map Location - http://fri.icfre.gov.in/map/map1.html

Transportation

By Road - Dehradun is well connected with road to all parts of the country and can easily be travelled in a bus or taxi from almost anywhere.

1. There are two bus stands. Deluxe/semi-deluxe bus services operate between Dehradun and Delhi, Shimla and Mussoorie. These services operate from ISBT(Inter State Bus Terminus) near clement Town. From the Delhi bus stand on Gandhi Road, a new AC Deluxe Volvo bus services by UASRTC has started. Bus services to Mussoorie, operated by UASRTC at a frequency of 15 mins to 70 mins. is available from ISBT.
2. Private bus companies also operate services between Dehradun and neighbouring centres and villages. Bus services are centred at Private Local Bus stand, Prade Ground.

By Train - Dehradun is a major railway station of Northern Railways and is well connected with direct trains to almost all the big cities of India. Some of the major ones are Delhi-Dehradun shatabdi' AC special, Mussoorie Express, Jan Shatabdi, Dehradun Express, Howrah-Dehradun Express, Chennai-Dehradun Express, Bandra-Dehradun Express, Indore-Dehradun Express etc.

By Air - The Jolly Grant Airport , 25 kilometres from Dehradun, is well connected with the Delhi airport. Kingfisher, Deccan, MDLR have daily flights between the two airports.

Faculty

• Wildlife, Biodiversity and Medicinal plants.
• Nursery & Plantation Technology.
• Soil Science.
• Environmental Physics.
• Forest Botany.

Facilities

Hostel Facility - FRI University has separate hostels for boys and girls with adequate facilities to make them feel at home away from home.

Fitness & Sports Facilities - The University has well equipped gym, playgrounds for basket ball, badminton, lawn tennis and table tennis.

IT Facility - Round the clock Internet facility is available in the Computer Lab as well as the Hostels.

Medical Facility - A well equipped hospital with qualified doctors and ambulance is situated in the campus which provides round the clock medical facility.

NFLIC - National Forest Library and Information Centre (NFLIC) is  National Level University Library with a collection of 1.2 lakh books, 32000 bounded periodicals and subscribe 118 Indian and 150 foreign periodicals with reprographic facility. The NFLIC has adopted an open access system and installed electromagnetic security system for controlling pilferage of documents.The NFLIC maintain 7,025 Ledger Files containing research and other useful articles on different forest species, subjects, and countries. The marketing of the publications of FRI is an important activity. The NFLIC has been entrusted with the work of marketing of all the documents published by the institute. The centre has launched its website - www.frienvis.nic.in

Research Divisions - These are as follows:

1.  Bio-Informatics & GIS Division - The division conducts activities pertaining to education, training and extension.
2.  Botany Division - Herbarium, Xylarium, Carpological Museum, Botanical Garden, Bambusetum, Tissue Culture units, Rare and spectacular plants conservatories, Vegetative Multiplication Garden, Clonal Seed Orchards are repositories of the division for R & D, educational and extension activities.
3.  Cellulose & Paper Division - The division initiated on evolving a efficient and economic process for preparation of easily bleachable pulp from bamboo to cater the ever-increasing shortage of fibrous raw material on sustained basis.
4.  Chemistry Division - The division has an impressive record of  conducting pioneering research focused towards  utilization and promotion of NWFPs (e.g. medicinal plants, essential oils, oils and fats, insecticides of plant origin, gums, tannins, starches, wood and bark extractives, natural dyes and cellulose etc.), wood, waste products from forestry operations and forest based industries.
5.  Climate Change & Forest Influence - To study various aspects of Climate Change and their relationship with Forests, Forest Research Institute constituted this division.
6.  Ecology & Environment Division - The division conducts forest ecological research and systematic studies on forest typology, foliar diagnosis and the physiologic-ecological aspects of a number of important species.
7.  Forest Entomology Division - The division is engaged forest insects of the country and their management.
8.  Extension Division - The Extension Division of the Forest Research Institute (FRI) serves as and interfaces between the institute and the stakeholders and end –users to strengthen the outcome of research carried out by the researchers on the different aspects of forestry in collaboration with other Divisions. The institute organizes Short Term Training Courses (STTC) in twenty two disciplines to keep managerial level officers, supervisory staff and field officers abreast with recent research developments in forestry and to transfer the latest technologies. In addition to this Short Term Low-Cost Training courses are also be organized. Customised courses on related topics are also organised for exclusive requirements of specific groups or organizations.

Low-cost short term  training courses for State Government and NGOs:

1.  Nursery & Plantation Techniques.
2.  Low-cost clonal/ propagation.
3.  Bamboo Utilization.
4.  Rural Development Technologies.

9.  Forest Product Division - The division plays an important role in meeting the country’s demand of wood and wood products and has much more role to play in the coming years considering the environmental aspects and energy efficiency. It is one of the biggest divisions of FRI having seven disciplines- Timber Mechanics, Wood Seasoning, Composite Wood, Wood Preservation, Timber Engineering, Wood Working & Finishing and the Wood Workshop.
10.  Forest Soil & Land Reclamation Division - The branch is devoted to the research on soil physical, chemical and mineralogical investigations. Field surveys for investigating mortality of important forest species from soils point of view are also carried out by the institute.
11.  Genetics & Tree Propagation - The division is involved in genetic improvement of indigenous tree species through collection and evaluation of the available germplasm in the country. Improvement through hybridization, induced mutation and polyploidy of multi-purpose tree species like Eucalyptus, Populus, Siris and Bamboos other areas of research in which significant progress was made. FRI is equipped with DNA fingerprinting and radio-isotope facilities.
12.  Non Wood Forest Product Division -  It is involved in better understanding and effective managements of Non Wood Forest Products (NWFPs), its resource base and the patterns of activities and employments required for long-term sustainability and overall development.
13.  Forest Pathology Division - It conducts detailed studies on the diseases and fungi affecting plants. In depth studies have been carried out on the problems of heart rot in Sal, pink disease of Eucalyptus, wilt disease of Shisham, root rot in Khair and wilt disease of Casuarina equisetifolia.
14.  Resource Survey and Management - The division has been working on the estimation of demand and supply of forest products, cost-benefit analysis, socio-economic impact assessments and marketing of forest products. The valuation of intangible benefits of forest/ tree based systems is being made for services like eco-tourism, FRI Estate, Zoological parks, etc. It also undertakes research work in socio-economic dimensions of natural / forest resource management, sustainable management of natural and plantation forests and biometry.
15.  Silviculture Division - Besides conducting Silviculture research, the Central Silviculturist looks after the work of Ecology, Soil Science, Mensuration and Forest Influence. Special attention was paid to standardization of techniques of field research and analysis of statistical and sample plot data.  To meet the urgent demands for statistics of growth, yield and out-turn of important species, a number of stand and commercial volumes tables for Teak, Sal, Deodar, Blue pine, Sundri, Kanju, Gutel, Khair, Chir, Shisham were prepared and published in Indian Forest Records (Silviculture Series) These volumes tables are used by the State Forest Departments, private organizations and individuals to calculate yield and volume of the species in their regions.  
16.  Engineering Cell - The function of Engineering Cell is to provide research support to various divisions of the institute and to undertake research in the field of Timber Engineering.

Cultural Activities - Students from different parts of the country having different cultural backgrounds join the University. Student club gives them opportunity to present the rich heritage of their area during the annual cultural program. Every year students show his / her talent with great zeal.

Annual Sports - FRI University has all indoor and outdoor games facility in the campus. Every year annual sports are organized by the University in which students show their calibre. The outstanding students also get opportunity to participate in All India Forest Sports Meet.

Student Alumni - FRI University is going to constitute alumni association. All the interested students / scholars are invited to become members of the association. It is requested that all the interested students / scholars may fill up the form given below and post / e-mail the same to the undersigned for formal registration of individual students. The fees shall be received through demand draft in favour of undersigned payable at Dehradun.

Museums - These are as follows:

• Timber Museum - The Timber Museum has exhibits of the best-known and most common commercial woods. One hundred and twenty six commercially important species displayed along the walls of the museum provide the visitors an idea on the characteristics of these woods.
• Silviculture Museum - The Silviculture Museum displays models and Photographs on Silvicultural Systems practised for efficient and scientific management of the forests.
• Pathology Museum - Forest Pathology museum houses 900 exhibits of various economically important tree diseases and timber decays.
• Non Wood Forest Products Museum - An exhibit of this museum shows a comparison between the conventional resin tapping technique and the newly developed rill method for resin tapping. Samples of turpentine oil and rosin, and a variety of species of bamboo found in our country make a unique collection.
• Social Forestry Museum - This museum depicts the effect of environment with and without trees on productivity and economy of the villages. Photographs and Models show effect of tree growth on fuel-wood, fodder and other forest products.
• Entomology Museum - This museum contains about 3,000 exhibits representing the various stages of insect pests and the nature of damage caused by them to seed, seedlings, standing trees, felled timbers, bamboos and also finished products.

Placements - FRI University has an active centralized Placement Office functioning throughout the year, with activities maximum between April and August. Decisions for recruitment are based upon parameters like job profile, growth prospects and remuneration package of the company. Various Industries / organizations visit the campus for interviews. University provides furnished guest houses as accommodation (on request) for the members of selection teams. On an average 50% of the students get placements through the campus interviews. While the other half try their entrepreneurial skills.

Achievements

1. FRI - Dehradun is an ISO 9001 : 2000 Certified Research Institute.
2. National Forest Insect Collection (NFIC) Division has established one of the biggest insect collections of country, the National Forest Insect Collection (NFIC), which is unique in having forestry, related insects from whole Indian subcontinent.
3. Thousands of new species have been discovered by the scientists of this division and by other experts from different organizations from India and abroad based upon material reared by forest entomology scientists of the division and preserved in NFIC.