chapters: southwest washington
Next Chapter Meeting: Thursday, May 8
Social Hour: 5:30pm
Dinner: 7:00pm
Location: Mercato Restorante, 111 Market Street NE, Olympia, WA. 360.528.3663.
Topic: The Washington Department of Historic Preservation, Allyson Brooks
news and announcements
The May SAF Meeting will be held at Mercato Ristorante in Olympia on April 10. Social hour will begin at 5:30 with dinner at 6:30. Our evening will be comprised of guest speaker Allyson Brooks, Department of Historic Preservation, and planning for the state SAF annual meeting.
Don't forget to register for the Annual meeting scheduled for May 28-30. We have a great program lined up around the theme "Forests in Transition".
in case you missed it
The April 10 chapter meeting included a discussion of the changing public perception of forestry in Washington. If you are interested and can get her on your agenda, the talk by Cindy Mitchell, WFPA Senior Director of Strategic Communications, was encouraging.
silent insect killer ravages the west
Confining most of my activities to the west side of the Cascades, where the skies are gray, temperatures are cool, and the forests are lush and green, it is easy to dismiss the forest health issues of the Eastside - might be called denial. A recent issue of E-Forester highlighted an ABC News report that said the West is under attack by a "silent killer" that's causing some of the worst destruction to hit the nation's forestland: the mountain pine beetle. The news reported that the epidemic began in 1996, but has grown significantly during the past year. According to the report, five years from now all of Colorado's lodgepole pine forests - another 6 million acres - will be wiped out. Further, the beetles are expected to infest the entire West over the next 15 years. To read more, visit the ABC News website.
forest service offers forest health, current forest conditions reports
Speaking of forest health, the Forest Service's National Forest Health Monitoring website offers forest health reports on all ownerships from across the country. The reports are based on the most current and sound information available from various survey, monitoring, and inventory programs including the Forest Health Monitoring Program, Forest Health Protection surveys, and Forest Inventory and Analysis, as well as other data. You can find the 2007 report for Washington on the USFS website.
saf position on forest tree biotechnology
Did you know that the SAF has a policy position on Forest Tree Biotechnology? The rapidly developing field of biotechnology, including forest tree improvement and especially genetic engineering (GE), has generated controversy and debate. The issue, as stated in the position paper, is that although the use of biotechnology for tree improvement can bring economic, social and environmental benefits, there are concerns regarding the safety of introduced genes and clonal varieties, and their impacts on natural ecosystems.
The term forest tree biotechnology arose during the 1980s. It encompasses a broad collection of tools for breeding, propagation, and research, all of which apply technology to management of biological organisms and systems. As commonly used, forest tree biotechnology encompasses structural and functional studies of genes and genomes (including development and application of genetic markers); various methods of vegetative reproduction such as micropropagation, tissue culture, and somatic embryogenesis; and GE, which is the physical manipulation and asexual insertion of genes into organisms.
Initial applications of forest tree biotechnology targeted improved productivity and quality of intensively managed plantation forests. Trees genetically engineered for pest resistance may promote plantation survival and yield, and also lead to restoration of native tree species. Other potential benefits include enhancing the ability of trees to tolerate abiotic stress; restoring contaminated sites through phytoremediation; facilitating weed control using more environmentally benign treatments; producing new industrial products; modifying biomass chemistry to improve pulp and biofuels production; and improving carbon sequestration to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.
Application of new technologies frequently leads to concerns sparked by their novelty and initial uncertainties. The most visible concerns are those associated with GE trees, and include: unintended consequences of inserted genes on tree biology; reliability of the newly encoded traits to produce the desired outcomes; effects of the new traits on forest ecosystem structure and function; and persistence and potential impacts of the introduced genes in native populations through the dispersal of pollen, seeds, or vegetative propagules. Learn about SAF's position on forest tree biotechnology here (pdf).
I look forward to seeing you on the 8th. Jim Hotved
2008 chapter officers
Chapter Chair Jim Hotvedt
Chair-elect Adrian Miller
membership changes
If you need to change any aspect of your SAF national office membership records such as mailing address, and numbers for fax, e-mail and telephone, go to the SAF national website and make your changes there!