During the last decade elevated levels of bark beetle-caused tree mortality have occurred in spruce forests of Alaska and the Rocky Mountains, lodgepole pine forests of the Rocky Mountains, pinyon-juniper woodlands of the southwestern U.S., and ponderosa pine forests of Arizona, California and South Dakota. Given the high regional significance of these impacts on all values derived from forest ecosystems, the executive leadership of the three western USDA Forest Service research stations (Pacific Northwest, Pacific Southwest, and Rocky Mountain) proposed a west-wide initiative to strengthen cooperative working relationships among researchers and their many partners. To meet this mandate, the Western Bark Beetle Research Group (WBBRG) was created in January 2007 during a meeting in Stevenson, Washington. WBBRG is composed of scientists from the three research stations with expertise in bark beetle research, development, and application in the West. The mission of the WBBRG is to serve as an ad hoc umbrella organization aimed at fostering communication, and enriching scientific interactions among Forest Service bark beetle researchers in the western U.S. Specifically, the organization will lead in the identification of western bark beetle research priorities; pursue priority research; promote relevance of the research; and work to increase the overall quality, productivity, timeliness, and delivery of research. WBBRG emphasizes basic and application-motivated research that will enhance our scientific understanding of bark beetles and ultimately solve problems faced by our diverse stakeholders, especially USDA FS Forest Health Protection, the National Forest System, state, county, and private land managers, and extension and academic cooperators.