1. This memorandum of cooperation is undertaken pursuant to the
guidelines for the Cooperative Program in the Agricultural
Sciences between the American Institute in Taiwan and the Co-
ordination Council for North American Affairs (CC NAA) which
became effective January 28, 1986.
2. During the November 1990 visit to the territory represented
by CCNAA of forestry representatives from AIT's designated
`representatives, the Forest Service of USDA, and the Univer-
sity of Arkansas at Monticello at the invitation of CCNAA's
designated representatives, the Council of Agriculture (COA),
a number of subjects of mutual interest and possible future
cooperation were identified. In particular, it was noted that
important and similar trends were taking place both in the t-
erritory represented by CCNAA and in the territory represent-
ed by AIT which are resulting in increasing emphasis being p-
laced on forest land management for the protection of waters-
heds, wildlife, and biological diversity and for the provisi-
on of outdoor recreation opportunities for expanding urban s-
ocieties. Wood, however, remains an important commodity both
in the territory represented by CCNAA and in the territory
represented by AIT, and efforts are underway to stimulate its
production from private land and to foster mutually benefici-
al marketing and trade opportunities.
3. Two broad areas for future AIT-CCNAA cooperation were identi-
fied: 1) professional enhancement and 2) cooperative research
. An important means of enhancing the professional developme-
nt of forestry and natural resource officials of the territo-
ry represented by CCNAA is to provide on-the-job training op-
portunities in the territory represented by AIT under the au-
spices of USDA's Forest Service and the U.S. Department of I-
nterior for periods of a few months to a year or more. Subje-
cts of particular interest are Geographical Information Syst-
em (GIS), forest resources inventory, outdoor recreation, wi-
lderness management, wildlife management, landscape ecology,
and interdisciplinary planning and management, will seek to
identify candidates for such training from throughout the fo-
restry and natural resources community in the territory repr-
esented by CCNAA, and AIT's designated representative, the U-
SDA Forest Service, will seek to identify sites for such tra-
ining in the territory represented by AIT both to USDA Forest
Service facilities and cooperatively with the U.S. Department
of Interior.
4. Cooperative research remains a high priority for future coll-
aboration. Although past research has been of high quality a-
nd great benefit to both the authorities represented by CCNAA
and the authorities represented by AIT, this ongoing program
has failed to reach its full potential, and there is scope to
expand it in a number of areas. In particular, benefit could
accrue from cooperative research in wildlife management,
ecology, and recreation as identified in the 1988 report by
Sweeney, Dwyer, and Conrad, but also in other areas such as
forest products marketing. A target would be to have at least
two cooperative projects underway per year. Both CCNAA's des-
ignated representative, the COA, and AIT's designated repres-
entative, the USDA Forest Service, will intensify efforts to
expand this excellent program.
5. Cooperation on both professional enhancement and research pr-
ograms can best be facilitated through the existing Guidelin-
es for a Cooperative Program in the Agricultural Sciences Jo-
intly signed by the CCNAA and the American Institute in Taiw-
an (AIT) on January 28 and January 15, 1986 respectively, and
managed by COA and OICD/USDA as their designated representat-
ives.
(Signed)
Steven D. Yoder
Chief
Agricultural Section
American Institute in Taiwan
Date: May 23, 1991
(Signed)
David K.P. Liu
Chief
Business Division
Coordination Council for
North American Affairs
Date: July 4, 1991