[PCA] Butternuts -- Extant sites wanted by USFS

[Larry Morse]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Woeste, Keith E 
To: Larry.E.Morse at lem-natural-diversity.com
Sent: 8/7/2008 10:02:48 PM 
Subject: butternuts


Dear Larry;
I am a Forest Service tree breeder and conservation geneticist working at the USDA Forest Service Hardwood Tree Improvement and Regeneration Center in West Lafayette, IN.  The Forest Service has become increasingly concerned that butternut canker has led to a serious population decline for butternut.  Regeneration for this species has been extremely poor.   As a consequence, a program to collect and preserve a sample of the butternut germplasm has been started.  This year we hope to obtain seeds from as many butternuts as possible.  We (myself and a small group of Forest Service scientists) are looking for any and all trees, not just trees that look healthy or have good form because the goal is to sample the genetic diversity of the species as broadly as possible.
The first step in our project is to simply identify living trees.  That part has been a challenge in the eastern U.S. for two reasons; first, there are simply not a lot of butternuts left.  The second challenge is that the most commonly encountered “butternuts” are actually hybrids between butternut and heartnut (a.k.a. Japanese walnut, Juglans ailantifolia), a species introduced in the 1860s.  Hybrids were widely planted as yard trees on farms and in small towns across the species' range.  We also find the hybrids in church yards and cemeteries.  Hybrids  are starting to invade the forest because seed collectors pick them up as “butternut” seeds.  We have a DNA-based test that allows us to separate hybrids from true butternuts. There are morphological traits that can be used to separate butternuts from hybrids, but they are tricky.  I can send more information on this if you want to see it.
Our long-term goals are 
            1. Conservation of as much of the genetic diversity of the species as we can obtain.
                2. Production of seed orchards of disease resistant butternut that would be locally adapted (one per state) and genetically diverse.  We have some excellent candidate resistant butternuts that we will use as a source of genes for this phase. 
We need local germplasm to carry out these objectives.  
So here is what we are am asking people to do.  If you know the location of butternut trees in your area, please send me a note of where the tree or trees are, if possible with gps coordinates, otherwise with section, range, township, etc.  If the tree is on private property, identify the landowner if possible.   If the trees are in the forest, they are probably butternuts rather than hybrids.  If the trees were planted or in a heavily human-impacted area such as a reclamation site or a park, they are probably hybrids, which we can’t use.  If you are interested, we have a testing lab here and I can send a protocol for submitting samples.  The testing is done under a program funded by us and the Nature Conservancy.
Next; a second goal is to propagate the trees.  Again, we are interested in any and all trees, not just healthy ones or trees with nice form.  Most of the trees people find now will be sick and on their way out.  The easiest way for us to preserve their genetics is to obtain seeds this fall (if any). Having the tree locations will give us a shot at seeds over the next few years.  If you or the landowner might be able to pick some seeds up, that is great. The amount of staff time I can dedicate to travel for harvesting seeds is limited,  and I have to cover the entire range of the species.  Anyway, if there are no seeds or the seeds can’t be easily obtained, the hard way is to propagate them with grafts.  We graft trees every winter.  If you can find butternuts, and we can arrange to get the scion wood, we will graft them for long-term maintenance.  
That’s the story.  If there are ways you think you can help, please let us know.  Thank you very much for taking the time to read this long letter. 
Yours sincerely,
Keith Woeste
Keith Woeste
USDA Forest Service
Hardwood Tree Improvement and Regeneration Center
Department of Forestry and Natural Resources
Pfendler Hall
Purdue University
715 West State Street
West Lafayette IN 47907-2061
web: http://www.agriculture.purdue.edu/fnr/HTIRC/woeste.html
phone: 765-496-6808
email: woeste at purdue.edu or kwoeste at fs.fed.us
fax: 765-494-9461


Larry Morse
Washington, D.C.
larry.morse.dc at earthlink.net
(Larry.E.Morse at LEM-Natural-Diversity.com)
(202)-543-2488
< http://www.lem-natural-diversity.com/ >
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