Invitation to Participate

Forest Genetics Ontario survey on strategic issues

Do you have something to say? We need your voice and your opinions as we move forward on issues identified during FGO's recent Operational Review - issues such as how to pay for tree improvement and gene conservation work; what should be MNR's responsibility and what the forest industry's (and who else ought to be participating); who should get the benefits of increased yield and how that could be done.

We have a survey posted on the FGO website, we'd appreciate your taking the time to respond and give us your thoughts.

The survey can be filled in here.

There are two backgrounders to these issues, prepared for you. If you haven't received them from an email, you can request them by emailing Kathie Brosemer.

There will be a workshop on 24 November in the Sault, where we'll tackle some of these issues. Details on the workshop will be emailed out, so please email if you can be here, and we will keep you informed as to venue and agenda.

Thank you, and I hope to see and hear your views on these matters soon!

Today FGO will wrap up five successful days in Toronto at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. Provincial Coordinator Kathie Brosemer has spent twelve-hour days talking with Torontonians and farmers from across the province, about tree breeding and gene conservation.

Woodlot owners were especially interested in our message and greatly in need of information about butternut and its status as an endangered species. Booth visitors were almost universally intelligent and concerned for forest health, and positive about our efforts. Tree improvement, while unfamiliar to most, received a positive response, and almost no one was alarmed about work on genetics, perceiving it to be a good thing to enhance forest health and sustainability, once it was explained.

SooToday covered our efforts, here.

The booth was put together with help from all three regional coordinators, who supplied ideas and photos, and especially Barb Boysen from FGCA, who made the trip across from Peterborough to help set up and bring much of the material of interest to southern Ontarians. Thanks go to FedNor for sponsoring most of the cost of the effort.

ScienceDaily (Sep. 27, 2009) -- Can we predict which species will be most vulnerable to climate change by studying how they responded in the past? A new study of flowering plants provides a clue. Interesting implications for assisted migration of tree species. For the full story see the article in Science Daily.

FGO is delighted to announce the publication of the conference proceedings, Adapting to Change: Managing Tree Seed in an Uncertain Climate.

The document, which may be cited as:

Colombo et al. 2008. Managing Tree Seed in an Uncertain Climate. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources Climate Change Research Information Note Number 8. Queen's Printer for Ontario. 8 pp.

is available for download here.

The baseline butternut health survey that FGO staff are carrying out this summer, has reached a milestone. After some delays for training, and in acquiring and testing the specialized equipment needed, the survey is now fully up and running. Oliver Reichl and Angelo Martignetti spend their days measuring butternut trees, rating their vigour and presence of butternut canker, and collecting leaf and twig samples for shipping back to the lab in the Sault.

On Monday, they downloaded the data to this website, for their fifteenth field location. The contract with MNR specifies the survey will be conducted on sixty sites that have been specified by MNR's scientists, throughout the range of butternut in Ontario. So it's one-fourth completed! They are now at the point where they're surveying an average of one site per day. Without taking rain days or other delays into account, this would see the survey completed by mid-September, and we have planned for a completion date in mid-October. So thanks to their hard work and dedication, we are well positioned to complete this work with a little time to spare.

I visited Oliver and Angelo two weeks ago and took some photos of the two of them in action. They're posted here for your viewing pleasure. The process of reaching with pruning poles, 40 to 50 feet up into the canopy, to obtain leaf and twig samples was fascinating. This is strenuous work.

Oliver links up to our webserver each evening, from wherever he's staying, and downloads the data. He's had to troubleshoot the datalogger in hotel rooms, sort out how to get wireless access, and communicate with the web programmer about data formats, all while running a field survey.

Angelo has taken on the GPS glitches, trying out several handheld units and finally settling on one rather expensive and much more accurate version, for which both the guys have gotten training in Guelph. Now he's busy each day, making sure the GPS data accuracy is achieved for each site, so that we can find these places again to resurvey in a few years.

We are fortunate to have two such skilled and hardworking individuals on this survey, and look forward to continued progress and great results.

Butternut Health Survey Technician

Job Posting

Responsible for data collection and management during 2008 Butternut Health Survey. The Technician will:

• Maintain equipment needed to collect data and samples of butternut trees.
• Plan sampling and data collection to maximize efficiency of travel.
• Travel to identified sites of butternut stands, locate and sample butternut trees according to established protocol.
• Map butternut sites for future resurvey.
• Maintain data, download to storage and backup system.
• Maintain collection of twig and leaf samples, ship to OFRI in a timely manner.
• Communicate with FGO office regarding safety and progress of the work, in a timely manner.
• Provide information for project reporting.
• Diligently observe all health and safety protocols while on the job.

Requirements: Knowledge of forest health surveys normally acquired through a Forest Technician diploma; valid driver’s license; excellent health and physical fitness adequate to outdoor work; diligence and attention to detail; ability to work independently with a minimum of supervision.

This position is a term full time position lasting four months, June through September 2008.

Please respond with resume to kbrosemer@fgo.ca.

Resumes will be accepted until the position is filled.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007 at 3 p.m. in the OFRI lecture pit, 1235 Queen Street East

Speaker: Yill-Sung Park, research scientist, Canadian Forest Service–Canadian Wood Fibre Centre, Fredericton, New Brunswick

Multi-varietal forestry (MVF) is the use of genetically tested tree varieties in plantation forestry while balancing genetic gain and diversity. Two key technologies for implementing MVF in conifers are somatic embryogenesis (SE) and cryopreservation. SE is a tissue-culture technique for producing genetically identical individuals, while cryopreservation is a technique that allows storing embryogenic varieties produced by SE in liquid nitrogen indefinitely without changing genetic makeup or loss of juvenility. These technologies are being used to develop tested high-value tree varieties for operational planting. Due to recent advancement, particularly in spruce and pine species, industrial implementation of MVF has begun in eastern Canada (and around the world) in connection with regional tree improvement programs.

Full details below...

The agenda for the Adapting to Change conference has been finalized, and it's going to be amazing! There are speakers and participants coming from across Canada, and from the US too. Don't miss this - there is no registration fee, but there is a deadline of 1 November to book a room at the conference rate, so don't delay.

The agenda is here.

The Holiday Inn in Sault Ste. Marie can be reached at 705-945-6969 or through their worldwide booking number at 1-800-465-4329.

Come join us in the Sault in November!

Tree Seed and Climate Change Survey

You can help ensure a proper plan for managing our tree seed resources under climate change: Just take a few minutes to complete our survey here!

On November 14-15, 2007, in Sault Ste. Marie, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources Climate Change Initiative and Forest Genetics Ontario are hosting a conference on

Adapting to Climate Change: Managing Tree Seed in an Uncertain Climate

(To register for the conference, see the link in the story below).

This conference will focus on seed movement and regulation tools (guidelines/zones), the science behind identifying and predicting patterns of adaptive variation response to climate change, the need to revise seed movement decision-making, and reforestation aspects of management planning under climate change.

By completing our survey, YOU can help the conference and our future plans succeed: You can help ensure the success of this conference by giving organizers and speakers more insight into how people think about and are acting on seed management and climate change. Preliminary survey findings will be presented at the conference along with presentations by Canadian and American experts in climate change and genetic resource management.

Whether or not you plan to attend the conference, we would like your views on this important matter. To complete the survey, click here.

Adapting to Change:
Managing Tree Seed in an Uncertain Climate

November 14-15, 2007
Holiday Inn, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

This conference is designed for forest managers and researchers who are concerned about the effects of climate change on managing tree seed resources.

Register at this link.

The conference will focus on:

• seed movement and seed movement regulation tools (guidelines/zones)
• the science behind identifying and predicting patterns of adaptive variation response to climate change
• the need to revise seed movement decision-making in light of scenarios of future climate

Conference goals:

1. To build awareness about climate change and its potential impacts on the deployment of forest genetic resources, for example, seed transfer guidelines, seed source bulking, seed banking, and tree improvement strategies
2. To open a debate among those concerned about impacts of climate change on forest genetic resources
3. To develop a roadmap for future actions promoting adaptation of forests to future climate

Confirmed speakers include:

• Sally Aitken, University of British Columbia
• Brian Barber, British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Tree Improvement Branch
• Judy Loo, Natural Resources Canada-Atlantic Forestry Centre
• Dan McKenney, Natural Resources Canada-Great Lakes Forestry Centre
• Greg O’Neill, British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Research Branch
• Bill Parker, Lakehead University
• Jack Woods, Forest Genetics Council of British Columbia

Preliminary Agenda

14 November
1 pm Registration
1:30-5 pm Plenary sessions

15 November
8:30-10 am Panel discussion
10-2:30 pm Interactive sessions
2:45 – 4 pm Panel discussions and wrap up

CONFORGEN meeting

On November 16, CONFORGEN will convene another session to bring together the CONFORGEN steering and standing technical committees to develop plans for work on forest gene conservation issues across Canada. For more information about CONFORGEN, contact Judy Loo at Natural Resources Canada-Atlantic Forestry Centre, jloo@nrcan.gc.ca.

Accommodations

The Holiday Inn is holding a block of rooms at the conference rate of $92 per night. Call (705)949-0611 and ask for the Forest Genetics Ontario meeting.

This conference is sponsored by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources’ Climate Change Initiative and Forest Genetics Ontario. There is no registration fee.

For more information, contact:

Kathleen Brosemer
provincial coordinator, Forest Genetics Ontario
(705)942-4907, cell (705)255-2801
kbrosemer@fgo.ca
www.fgo.ca

Barb Boysen
coordinator, Forest Gene Conservation Association
(705)755-3284, fax (705)755-3292
barb.boysen@ontario.ca
www.fgca.net