Forest resource issues in Canada vary by region, but in general, the forest industry is faced with a continuing decline in the volume and quality of available timber. Doing more with less will be the key to profitability. Changing, and increasingly fragmented markets, mean that industry must have improved information descriptive of the end- product potential of the current forest resource. Rapidly increasing expenditures on stand management make it imperative that governments and industry be provided with information describing how present silvicultural practices will impact on future wood quality. In some regions, where managed forests are approaching rotation age, information is needed to help industry examine its options for harvesting, processing and marketing this emerging resource. Forintek Canada Corp. has established a national program of resource assessment to meet the need for information that will permit the consideration of wood quality in processing, marketing and stand management decisions. The objective of this problem analysis was to ensure that resource characterization research is structured such that results of interdisciplinary work, done within Forintek or by cooperating agencies, can be successfully integrated to provide comprehensive answers to resource utilization and stand management questions. This report describes the development of the resource assessment research program, the goals established for it and the framework within which they will be accomplished.