Wakeley’s early history of southern forest genetics

Abstract

Hired as a researcher in 1924, Philip C. Wakeley led the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Southern Forest Experiment Station’s development of reforestation, tree improvement, and genetics across the South during his remarkable 40-year career. Wakeley’s seminal Planting the Southern Pines (Wakeley 1954) was built on some of his earlier works (Wakeley 1929, 1935) and provided foresters with the tools and technology to reforest the South and remains one of the most-cited references of the Forest Service. Wakeley’s studies helped convince foresters and managers of the potential to use genetics to improve the productivity of southern pine plantations, and he long served as the leader of southern forest tree improvement and genetics.

Parent Publication

• Celebrating 100 years of forest science: an abridged history of the Southern Research Station

Citation

Wakeley, Philip C.; Barnett, James P. 2023. Wakeley’s early history of southern forest genetics. In: Bragg, Don C., ed. Celebrating 100 years of forest science: an abridged history of the Southern Research Station. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-272. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station: 163-171.