Cooperative advanced-generation breeding and testing of coastal Douglas-fir and western hemlock—strategy and implementation.

Abstract

As in many temperate regions of the world, forest tree improvement got underway in the Pacific Northwest of the USA in the 1950s, with a number of companies and agencies starting independent tree improvement programs. Booth-Kelly Lumber Co., Crown Zellerbach Corp., the Industrial Forestry Association, Port Blakely Mill Co., Simpson Timber Co., Timber Service Co., the US Forest Service, and Weyerhaeuser Co. were among the first to select coastal Douglas-fir trees and graft them into clonal orchards. Graft incompatibility, both immediate and delayed, became evident by the early 1960s and dampened enthusiasm for grafted clonal orchards for this species (Silen and Copes 1972). The problem of graft incompatibility was eventually greatly reduced due to work done by Don Copes of the PNW Research Station, but by that time it had played an important role in shaping tree improvement in the region.

Citation

Jayawickrama, K. J.S.; Johnson, G.R.; Ye, T. 2005. Cooperative advanced-generation breeding and testing of coastal Douglas-fir and western hemlock—strategy and implementation. In: 2004 IUFRO Forest Genetics Meeting Proceedings, p. 101-103