Research in Canada's National Research Forests—Past, present and future

We examine almost a century of research activity conducted at Canada's two National Research Forests describing the contributions of long-term study sites and experiments in North America to forest science. The establishment and history of the Petawawa Research Forest and the Acadia Research Forest are outlined, both managed by the Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada. Examples are given of past lessons learned from these forests, today's relevance of these research sites, and some perspectives on their value into the future. Specific examples illustrate how a study initially set up for a specific purpose provided answers through time to new and emerging topics that were not foreseen when the study began.