The journey of ICFRE was initiated way back towards the end of the nineteenth century with the advent of scientific forestry in India and the establishment of the Forest School in Dehradun in 1878. It was on 5th June 1906 subsequently that the Imperial Forest Research Institute was founded by the Government of India for taking forward forestry research in the country. In 1986 the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education or ICFRE was formed as an umbrella organisation for taking care of forestry research, education and extension needs of the country.