Forest Genetics: What's in it for the Family Forest Owner?

By Jess Daniels

This issue of Northwest Woodlands highlights forest genetics and its varied applications in the management of Northwest forests. Certainly, the most prominent applications are the numerous tree improvement (or tree breeding) programs currently operating throughout the region. Virtually every forest land management organization - governmental agency and industrial corporation alike - is engaged in some sort of tree improvement program that promises benefits beyond what would be expected from simply managing natural stands or plantations from natural ("woodsrun") seed sources. In most cases, the goal is increased productivity of commercial timberlands - the production of genetically improved trees that combine the natural adaptedness of their wild progenitors with greatly enhanced growth and yield performance.

Obviously, these large-scale applied genetics programs make good sense to the agencies and corporations that have invested heavily in their development over the past several decades and expect to reap the benefits from these investments in the decades ahead. But what about family forest owners who, by and large, are not directly involved in such tree improvement programs? Does applied forest genetics have any relevance to management of their non-industrial forestlands? If so, how does it relate to the varied goals of such a diverse group of small, private landowners, some of whom may not put a high priority on timber production, favoring instead other values such as esthetics, recreation and biodiversity?

These questions were recently addressed in a series of one-day genetics workshops, sponsored by the Oregon Department of Forestry and USDA Forest Service, specifically designed for non-industrial private forest (NIPF) landowners. While these workshops did not attract large audiences, those who did attend came away with a better understanding of the fundamentals of applied genetics and a heightened awareness of the potential benefits of their application, as well as the risks of ignoring them or applying them incorrectly. Applied genetics is, in effect, a potent and versatile silvicultural tool that can be used in various management settings to help the landowner achieve a particular goal - be it a highly productive plantation or simply a beautiful, healthy forest.

Clearly, the benefits of applied genetics are not limited just to those landowners practicing plantation forestry who can afford to participate in tree improvement programs. Any landowner can profit from ensuring that the principles of applied genetics are understood and followed by those responsible for making life-and-death silvicultural decisions (e.g., harvesting, reforestation, thinning). In a very real sense, those individuals - be they foresters or not - are practicing geneticists, and their decisions will determine whether the landowner reaps genetic gains or suffers genetic losses in the long run.

Every forest landowner, regardless of the size of the ownership, needs to understand the genetic implications - positive and negative - of the management systems and silvicultural methods that mold the composition and character of managed forests. Choosing the right approach in any given situation - whether it be unevenaged management with single-tree selection and natural regeneration, evenaged management via clearcutting and planting, or something in between - is ultimately the landowner's responsibility. If landowners are unable to evaluate the genetic tradeoffs, then they should seek help from professional foresters that have the knowledge and expertise to weigh the potential genetic advantages and disadvantages of various management alternatives and silvicultural options.

If, for whatever reasons, the landowner opts for artificial reforestation - whether in an evenaged or unevenaged system - then the chief concern should be the genetic quality of the seed used for growing planting stock (or direct seedling, as the case may be). The first requisite is to choose seed sources that are genetically adapted to the environments of the planting sites. Ignoring this crucial first step can ultimately lead to disaster; mal-adapted (off-site) plantations may survive and grow well early on, but they eventually succumb to environmental stresses that sap their vigor and increase mortality over the long run.

Ideally, the landowner would choose local, well-adapted seed sources (i.e., those in close proximity to the planting sites) to avoid this disastrous pitfall. But since it is common practice for family forest owners to purchase their planting stock from current inventories of commercial nurseries, they may not always find the preferred local seed sources. Using published forest tree seed zone maps and seed-transfer guidelines, landowners can determine the suitability of available nursery stock for reforestation of their particular lands. They should avoid at all costs the risky business of indiscriminately buying and planting whatever stock happens to be available at a "bargain" price.

Small landowners - particularly those managing for timber production - should also investigate the possibilities for tapping into the benefits of those large-scale tree improvement programs developed by governmental agencies and industrial forestry companies. Thousands of acres of seed orchards have been established in the Pacific Northwest, and seed from some of these orchards is now available on the open market. Some commercial nurseries grow seedlings from orchard seed for sale. For example, the Oregon Department of Forestry allocates a percentage of its orchard seed for production of planting stock specifically for NIPF landowners.

Orchard seedlots or seedlings may be marketed as "genetically improved" but this does not mean that they are the right choice for any particular landowner. Just as with woodsrun seed, the landowner must carefully select the proper orchard-seed sources (i.e., geographical-elevational breeding zones) to match the planting site environments.

While most of the seed orchards in the Pacific Northwest are Douglas-fir, other commercially important species are represented (e.g., blister rust-resistant white pine and sugar pine, western hemlock, ponderosa pine, noble fir, western redcedar). While there is little, if any, surplus orchard seed now available for most of these "other species," landowners should not overlook the possibility of obtaining genetically improved seed or seedlings in the future as young orchards reach maturity.

Family forest owners should also consider opportunities for cooperative ventures into the realm of tree improvement to secure a future supply of genetically improved seed suited to their particular needs. An excellent example of such a grassroots venture is the Willamette Valley Ponderosa Pine Conservation Cooperative, which was recently launched by a group of small woodland owners in western Oregon, working in concert with federal, state and industrial cooperators. Their goal is to conserve and reestablish this unique race of ponderosa pine for ecological, timber and urban purposes. To conserve the remaining genetic base, landowners have identified hundreds of parent trees which have been grafted into a seed orchard to ensure the landowners a continuing supply of well-adapted reforestation seed in the future.

Jess Daniels is president of Daniels and Associates, Inc., a forest genetics consulting firm located in Centralia, Wash.

This article appeared in the Northwest Woodlands magazine, Winter 2000 - Published quarterly by the World Forestry Center for the Oregon Small Woodlands Association, Washington Farm Forestry Association, Idaho Forest Owners Association and Montana Forest Owners Association.