Forest Research Institute Malaysia

The Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM; Malay: Institut Penyelidikan Perhutanan Malaysia) is a statutory agency of the Government of Malaysia, under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. FRIM promotes sustainable management and optimal use of forest resources in Malaysia by generating knowledge and technology through research, development and application in tropical forestry. FRIM is located in Kepong, near Kuala Lumpur.

History

In 1926, the Chief Conservator of Forest (equivalent to today's Director of Forestry), G.E.S Cubitt, asked Dr. F.W. Foxworthy to established a separate forest research unit for the Forestry Department. It was Foxworthy who selected the present site, at Kepong. He was also to become the Institutes's first Chief Research Officer.

The site comprised an area that was practically stripped of its original forest cover except for a few remnant trees at the more inaccessible localities. Lalang-grass scrub on the hillsides made way to vegetable terraces on the lower slopes, while the valley cradled a few ponds, the left-overs of a past tin-mining operation.