To Robb Bennett (& 'forest' and 'treeseed' lists): Robb, I approve of your intentions in an agroforestry context; my fault for not picking up on that part of your original posting. Sorry if i broad-brushed you as a 'forester' (no insult intended); people do that to me all the time too (I'm a plant ecologist become silviculturist). But it is a recurrent proposition, especially among timber-oriented foresters. I still would like to raise/reiterate a few points: 1. Have we really explored the potential of cascara, garry oak, bitter cherry, arbutus, paper birch, red alder, and bigleaf maple (i.e., our natives) as furniture woods? Do others on the lists have anything to offer here? 2. Worrall's concerns about chilling requirements referred not to breaking seed dormancy but vegetative bud dormancy (though, as you say, we see several of these eastern spp. as street trees, so that would seem to be a non-issue...) 3. I still doubt whether we could tree-farm such wood at a competitive advantage to the eastern U.S., given that our culture/economy/society places no value on regional self-sufficiency, and indeed is trying to replace such abilities through the Free Trade Agreement and other trade globalization issues. Also, farm land is decidedly more expensive (in both price and taxes) than in the east (U.S. or Canada). 4. Escapes happen, and are probably somewhat more likely to naturalize in forests than are other agricultural crops because we are talking about long-lived, tall-statured plants...or is this not an important criterion? I posted my response to the 'forest' mailing list as well as the 'treeseed' list, and a number of (sometimes contradictory) responses are coming in (esp. from New Zealand). I will be glad to share those later. Regards, Phil Burton ========================================================================= burton@unixg.ubc.ca /* "It's not that I just work here; */ Philip J. Burton, Assistant Professor /* here is just where I work." */ University of British Columbia Department of Forest Sciences tel. 604-822-6020 #270 - 2357 Main Mall fax. 604-822-5744 Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6T 1Z4 =========================================================================
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