A multi-institutional team is promoting the conservation of North American Fraxinus spp. (Ashes) in the face of the invasion by Agrilus planipennis (Emerald Ash Borer, EAB). This two-year project has a two-pronged approach. First, is a need to better understand Fraxinus diversity and taxonomy, particularly in Section Melioides in the eastern United States. To achieve this goal, 96 Fraxinus collections, representing 12 putative taxa, consisting of herbarium vouchers and samples for DNA and chromosome analyses, were gathered during the 2018 field season in ten states. Once Ash species can be confidently delimited, molecular and chromosome data will be combined with morphological and ecological data to produce a hypothesis for evolutionary history and relationships among North American Fraxinus species to guide Ash conservation. Second, the project is engaging citizen scientists in the quest for “lingering Ash,” those individual trees that have some degree of EAB resistance, and thus which are potentially useful in the EAB resistance Ash breeding program of the U.S. Forest Service. To achieve this goal, outreach is focused in the Catskills region of New York State, where there exist suitable sites to search for lingering Ash among extensive stands of largely dead Ash trees. In the 2018 field season, five plots were established in the Catskills, following USFS protocols, and 20 citizen scientists were recruited to survey and monitor these plots in the 2019 field season, when an additional 20 volunteers will be recruited and five additional plots will be established in prime locations to find lingering Ash. Presented by Brian Boom, New York Botanical Garden, at the 2019 SAF National Convention, Louisville, KY.

Wood product markets affect forest sector jobs, shape the composition and structure of future forests, and are strong drivers of investments in forest management.  Monitoring timber products is key to understanding the current utilization of raw material to support these markets.  In the United States, timber product monitoring started in 1809 and the USDA Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis program has led this monitoring since 1948.  Estimates from timber products monitoring have provided the essential foundation for U.S. timber market analyses and projections, sustainability, policy analysis, and local wood basket analysis of potential market expansion. Here I present background information on timber products monitoring in the United States and provide information on future directions. Presented by John Coulston, USDA Forest Service, at the 2019 SAF National Convention, Louisville, KY.

The Tongass National Forest includes most of southeast Alaska and supports rural subsistence activities and traditional lifeways for Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian Alaska Natives. High-value wood from this forest has been used for centuries in the creation of cultural commodities, yet climatic and human-related impacts may affect distribution and access to species essential for maintaining a robust cultural way of life, especially Alaskan yellow cedar (Callitropsis nootkatensis), western red cedar (Thuja plicata), and Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis). Furthermore, the 2016 Tongass Land Management Plan aims to conserve resources of heritage value used for Native craft, but little is currently known of the threats to access and supply of these culturally important resources to Alaska Native people, making it difficult to meet this need. We assembled an interdisciplinary team of federal, university, non-profit, educational, and tribal partners to assess needs and stimulate multigenerational cultural knowledge transfer. In this project we are developing better understanding of forest resource types essential for sustaining cultural lifeways, and of the concerns communities have for future resource availability. We engaged with local cultural leaders, provided opportunities for student involvement in forest research and cultural art forms, and developed a high-school science curriculum to transfer knowledge and raise awareness in a systematic format. The outcomes of this project provide useful touchstones for better integrating traditional knowledge and needs prevalent in rural communities into forest management plans and educational strategies to foster the sustainability of cultural heritage. Presented by Justin Crotteau, USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station, at the 2019 SAF National Convention, Louisville, KY.