The science of Forestry has started its course from the countries of Central and North Europe as a result of the modern and exponentially growing needs in wood that has been used as raw material as well as of the problems that have been created from the extensive destructionof forests and, in general, of the natural environment.
These initial concerns have led to the foundation of University Institutions in Middle Europe, and later on in the rest of the continent, and naturally in our country as well. In Greece, the fist higher education Forestry School was founded and run its operation in 1917 in Athens and moved to Thessaloniki in 1927 to become one of the first educational units of the newly-founded Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
The Department of Forestry and Management of the Environment and Natural Resources at Democritus University of Thrace in Orestiada started to run its operation in the academic year 1999-2000 with the entrance of its first students. Currently, the Department is accepting about 157 students annually.
Based on article 1 of the P.D. 203/99, the aim of its foundation and operation is the cultivation and advancement of Forestry and Environmental Science with special emphasis on the Management of Natural Resources as well as the training  of scientists able to study, investigate, comprehend and apply contemporary methods for the development, enhancement, protection and management of forests and woodlands and of the natural environment itself.

The Department aspires to further the impact of its educational services, research potential, the proliferation of its publications as well as the general activities followed by both theacademic staff and its graduates as a mean to significantly contribute to the development of Forestry Science, the enhancement of management and exploitation of Greek forests and, generally, natural resources, as well as the protection of natural environment in our country.
The presence of DUTH in the prefecture of Evros and, especially, in the city of Orestiada assigns to the institution an additional mission that is to act as a CulturalLighthouse in the wider area making an essential contribution to the development of local cultural and intellectual legacy.