North American Forest Genetic Resources

[Bradley K. Sherman]

[Please note contact information at bottom of this message.]

  A report on the "Status of Temperate North American Forest Genetic
  Resources"   has   just   been  published  by  the  University  of
  California's Genetic Resources Conservation  Program.   It  is  an
  attractive,  redable,  and  useful book for forest geneticists and
  all those interested in genetic resources.   It  is  85  pages  in
  length  and  was written, in part, and edited by Deborah L. Rogers
  and F. Thomas Ledig.
  
  The report describes the status of temperate North American forest
  genetic resources in situ and in plantations throughout the  world
  where  they are grown as exotics, and presents the recommendations
  developed at a Workshop on North American Temperate Forest Genetic
  Resources, held June 12-14, 1995  in  Berkeley,  California.   The
  information in the report was developed from workshop discussions,
  responses  to  questionnaires,  and  case  studies.   Among  other
  interesting information is the  extent  to  which  North  American
  species  are  grown  on  other  continents:  for example, although
  Monterey pine had a  native  range  of  only  about  6,000  ha  in
  California, it is now planted on 4,000,000 ha around the world.
  
  The  original  objective  in convening the workshop was to develop
  recommendations to feed into FAO's Fourth Technical Conference  on
  Plant  Genetic  Resources, which was held in Leipzig in June 1996.
  The Leipzig conference was to formulate a Global  Plan  of  Action
  for  all  plant  genetic  resources.   However, in April 1996, the
  Second Extraordinary Session of  the  FAO  Commission  on  Genetic
  Resources   for   Food  and  Agriculture  decided  to  forego  the
  discussion of forest genetic resources  until  after  the  Leipzig
  meeting.    This  was  a  political  decision  made  in  order  to
  facilitate progress on the Global Plan of Action for  agricultural
  plant  resources.   When a conference is called to consider forest
  genetic resources, this report will  provide  background  for  the
  discussion.  In the meantime, it will provide information of value
  to conservationists.
  
  Copies of the report are available for $12 from:
  
                      Genetic Resources Conservation Program
                      University of California
                      Davis, California  95616
  
                      Phone: (916) 754-8501
                      Fax: (916) 754-8505
                      email: grcp at ucdavis.edu