Overview

Coastal Tree Breeding

• Coastal Douglas-fir
• Western redcedar
• Yellow cypress
• Sitka spruce
• Western white pine (coastal)
• Western hemlock

Interior Tree Breeding

• Interior spruce
• Interior Douglas-fir
• Western larch
• Lodgepole pine
• Western white pine (interior)

Coastal Tree Breeding

Yellow cypress Gene Resource Management (John Russell)

Activities for the yellow cypress gene resource management program involve gene conservation, genecology, tree breeding and technical support. The following activities occurred over the last year:

All 10 provenance test sites have been measured at 10-years. Preliminary results show continued evidence of random population variation in response to environmental conditions. Any changes to seed transfer will be proposed after complete evaluation of the data.

Three annual series of clonal progeny have been established. Over 5000 clones from 400 full-sib families have been planted. Three to four test sites were established for each series. All sites have high survival and test trees are growing well. Five-year data were collected this fall from the first series. Clonal values from 1587 clones were developed and officially released. Top selections are currently being repropagated for inclusion into operational hedges.

A clonal forestry project is looking at the most efficient technique for maintaining donor stock juvenility and thus rooted cutting quality. The study includes over 100 clones that have been established from seedlot 9777 every 2 to 4 years from seed and from previously rooted cuttings from the original seedlings. The oldest donors are now 18 years old. Another round of serial propagation was completed this year. Two series of trials from the hedges have been established. One series, established on 2 sites, is now 5 years old and data on growth, form and survival has just been collected. The other series has just been established on two sites in coastal BC.

Analyses of nursery and field data to-date indicates that clonal variation in rooting and stock quality is more important than juvenility. Whether a donor plant is continually hedged or periodically repropagated varies by clone. However, it must be stressed that all donor plants were healthy and reasonably juvenile, a prerequisite to a successful cutting program.

Continual monitoring of pollen development and viability at various natural yellow-cedar areas and "off-sites" have yielded some interesting results. Sites that have the coldest winter temperatures have the best pollen quality. As well, areas that have the warmest summer temperatures and the lowest number of frost-free days exhibit the worst pollen quality. Factors affecting yellow cypress pollen quality may be a combination of: