Interior spruce, lodgepole pine, interior Douglas-fir, western
larch, western white pine, and several broadleaf tree species are important
ecological and economic components of British Columbia’s interior forests.
Today, interior spruce and lodgepole pine represent more than half of the
seedlings planted annually in British Columbia and they are highly valued for
their wood quality, relative to fast-grown plantation trees from elsewhere in
the world.
The goal of the tree improvement program in British
Columbia is to produce well-adapted, selectively bred seeds or cuttings that
will grow into trees with stable and improved volume growth, wood quality, and
pest resistance, while maintaining the diversity found in natural populations.
As tree improvement programs on the coast began to show success, the interior
tree breeding research program began in the late 1960s, starting with interior
spruce (Picea glauca, P. engelmannii, and their hybrids). It has grown to now
include breeding and improvement programs for eight interior species across many
seed planning units. The research program ensures that comprehensive genetic
resource management programs are developed and implemented to ensure appropriate
development of forest tree materials by conventional plant breeding practices,
conservation of genetic resources, and risk reduction (i.e., adaptation and
resilience to climate change and other disturbances).
The interior tree breeding research program provides
critical support to:
- address reforestation issues in the interior such
as maladaption of planting stock and successfully achieving free-growing
status;
- understand how to adapt forest management
activities to climate change and its risks;
- respond to forest health risks such as the terminal
weevil on spruce trees, white pine blister rust, mountain pine beetle, and
root diseases;
- minimize losses of improved seed through seed and
cone pest research and management;
- improve industry competitiveness through protection
and enhancement of reforestation investments and long-term gains in volume
and wood quality.
-
Identified, selected, and grafted
65 forward selections of interior spruce from the Prince George Series
1st-and 2nd-generation genetic tests.
-
Raised and released a population
of terminal weevils for screening two interior spruce genetic tests (PG
Series Two and the McLeese Lake somatic embling trial) to further evaluate
resistance.
-
Measured 3-year height of interior
spruce on 18 sites in the BC/Alberta climate change project.
-
Measured 21-year height and
diameter of interior Douglas-fir on three sites in the Cariboo Transition
Series II genetic tests, 20-year height on four West Kootenay high elevation
sites, and 20-year height on three Nass Skeena sites.
-
Measured 15-year height and
diameter of western larch on four sites in the Nelson Series I genetic
tests.
-
Measured realized genetic gain
trial sites for southern and central interior seed planting units (SPU) (4
and 6, respectively).
-
Measured the seed orchard realized
genetic gain trial sites for the southern interior.
-
Launched the Assisted Migration
Adaptation Trial (AMAT), a large, long-term field trial that will provide
the first comprehensive experimental data on the climatic adaptation of tree
species, to help identify the species and seedlots best adapted to current
and future climates.
-
Completed additions of lodgepole
pine parent stock to seed orchards. The six-year program expanded seed
production from genetically selected trees in response to the sudden
increase in demand for lodgepole pine to reforest interior B.C. after the
mountain pine beetle epidemic.
-
Hosted a Western White Pine
Management and Genetics workshop in June 2008 to promote planting of white
pine blister rust-resistant western white pine originating from seed
orchards.
-
Presented a paper at the joint
meeting of the Southern Forest Tree Improvement Council and Western Forest
Genetic Association in Galveston, Texas, on a study conducted to model
environmental effects on wood density in lodgepole pine.
-
Presented a paper on western larch
tree improvement and seed deployment in British Columbia at Larix 2007:
International Symposium of the IUFRO Working Group S2.02.07, Quebec City,
Que, September 17 – 21, 2007.
-
Published a paper on the
evaluation of genetic variation of resistance and attack of mountain pine
beetle on lodgepole pine.
-
One of three Canadian delegates at
the Reunion of the FAO, North American Forest Genetics Working Group,
Corvallis, Oreg, September 24-27, 2007.
-
Seeking to identify the molecular,
biochemical, or physical tree characteristics that confer resistance in
lodgepole pine against bark beetles.
-
Screening for superior lodgepole
pine families from two seed planning zones where no genetically improved
material currently exists to identify seed sources for establishing the most
productive second-growth stands.
-
Investigating the reproductive
biology of lodgepole pine to determine the causes of seed production losses
in Okanagan Valley seed orchards.
-
Developing a strategy for blister
rust screening in whitebark pine, a keystone species of high elevations that
has recently experienced substantial mortality.
-
Establishing a second ponderosa
pine seed orchard in B.C. from genetically selected parent stock.
-
Established B.C.'s first paper
birch seed orchard in B.C. with trees selected from 195 southern interior
families that were screened during 12 years of genecology research.
-
Completed pilot Armillaria
resistance screening for interior Douglas-fir.
-
Released new breeding values for
western larch in the Nelson SPU, based on 15-year measurements.
-
Studying the genetic relationships
and inheritance of western larch wood traits.
-
Organized three stops on
field tour at the BC Seed Orchard Manager’s Meeting, Prince George, B.C.,
June 26-28, 2007.
-
Consultation on seed
transfer in several interior Forest Districts.
-
Jaquish, B. 2007. Interior
spruce tree improvement in British Columbia. Presentation at the SAB program
review of the Treenomix BC research program. University of British Columbia,
June 14, 2007.
-
Jaquish, B. 2007. EP672 -
Effects of altitudinal and lateral displacement of white and Engelmann
spruce provenances: Prince Rupert plantations. Presentation at the Northern
Silvicultural Committee Summer Field Tour, Smithers, B.C., June 19, 2007.
-
Forest Tree
Genetic Resource Conservation and Management Challenge Dialogue,
Co-chair—A dialogue with stakeholders to create a collective vision and
strategy for genetic resource conservation and management to support
sustainable forest management in British Columbia, congruent to the range of
values outlined in the Provincial Chief Forester’s Sustainable Forest
Management framework.
-
Forest Genetics Council of British
Columbia, Interior Technical Advisory and the Operational Tree
Improvement Project Review Committees—The Council guides tree improvement
activities in the province. Research Branch forest geneticists actively
participate in providing technical and policy information to the Council and
in reviewing and evaluating operational tree improvement projects.
-
Long-term Multi-species
Facilitated Migration Trial Planning—Responsible for all aspects of
selection, testing, breeding, and related research of interior tree species.
-
UBC Genome BC Forestry
Project, Co-operator—Research project to study genome sequencing of poplar
and spruce in order to identify the genetic blueprints that determine
characteristics such as resistance against forest insect pests, adaptation
to climate change, and wood quality.
-
Presented talks to Canadian
Tree Improvement Association (CTIA), Southern Interior Silviculture
Committee (SISCO), Coastal Silvicultural Committee, Tree Seed Working Group,
Inland Empire Tree Improvement Cooperative, and others on seed deployment
strategies to address climate change.
Carlson, M., V. Berger, and N.
Ukrainetz. 2007. Paper birch makes the team. TicTalk. 8(1): 7-8.
Corrigan, J., M. Carlson, G.
Giampa, V. Berger, C. Walsh, and W. Strong. 2006. They're heeere! - Observations
of the first mountain pine beetle attacks recorded at the Kalamalka Forestry
Centre. TicTalk 7(1):4–8.
Jaquish, B. 2007. Western larch
tree improvement and seed deployment in British Columbia. Paper presented at
Larix 2007: International Symposium of the IUFRO Working Group S2.02.07. Quebec
City, Que., September 17-21, 2007.
Jaquish, B. 2007. Western larch
tree improvement in British Columbia. Presentation at the BC Seed Orchard
Manager's Meeting. Prince George, B.C., June 26, 2007.
Jaquish, B. 2008. Screening
Interior Douglas-fir families for resistance to Armillaria. Invited presentation
at 2008 Forest Pest Management Forum, Gatineau, PQ Dec 2-4, 2008.
Khasa, D.P., J.P.
Jaramillo-Correa, B. Jaquish, and J. Bousquet. 2006. Contrasting microsatellite
variation between subalpine larch and western larch, two closely related species
with different distribution patterns. Molecular Ecol. 15(13): 3907-3918.
O'Neill, G., M. Carlson, V.
Berger, and A. Yanchuk. 2007. Responding to climate change: Facilitating seedlot
migration to maximize adaptation of future forest plantations. TicTalk. 8(1):
9-12.
Stoehr, M.U., H. Mehl, G.
Nicholson, G. Pieper, and C. Newton. 2006. Evaluating supplemental mass
pollination efficacy in a lodgepole pine orchard in British Columbia using
chloroplast DNA markers. New Forests 31: 83–90.
von Aderkas, P., L. Kong, and M.
Carlson. 2007. One bud, two bud, three bud, four: Making lodgepole pine buds
count. TicTalk. 8(1): 4-6.
Xie, C.-Y., M.R. Carlson, and
J.C. Murphy 2007. Predicting individual breeding values and making forward
selections from open-pollinated progeny test trials for seed orchard established
of interior lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta ssp. latifolia) in British Columbia.
New Forests 33: 125-138.
Yanchuk, A.D., J.C. Murphy, and
K.F. Wallin. 2008. Evaluation of genetic variation of attack and resistance in
lodgepole pine in the early stages of a mountain pine beetle outbreak. Tree
Genetic and Genomes. 4(2): 171-180.
Michael Carlson,
Research Scientist (Kalamalka)
Barry Jaquish,
Research Scientist (Kalamalka)
Nicholas Ukrainetz,
Research Scientist (Kalamalka)
Ministry contact: Alvin Yanchuk
Please direct questions regarding webpage to For.Prodres@gov.bc.ca
Updated March 2008 |
