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Healthy Forests Success Story

Coulter Pine Genetic Resource Conservation Project
San Gabriel River Ranger District, Angeles National Forest, California
2008

The project is located about one hour northeast of Los Angeles on the San Gabriel River Ranger District. The Cottontail plantation, chosen as the Coulter pine gene bank, is also just north of the San Gabriel Valley communities of Monrovia, Duarte, Azusa, and Glendora, California. The project area is located within Congressional District 26 (Dreier).

In recent years, severe fires, drought, and an infestation of bark beetles have caused the loss of numerous Coulter pine stands in southern California. With their loss is the loss of genetic diversity, a fundamental component and requirement for species adaptation and the evolutionary process. In addition, because forests serve as habitats for many organisms, the threat is extended to the entire flora and fauna, not just the trees themselves (Ledig, 1988).

To guard against such a loss, the Pacific Southwest (PSW) Research Station and the Angeles National Forest have started the Coulter Pine Genetic Resource Conservation Project. The project will provide a genetic "bank" to maintain the species’ diversity and enhance the ecosystem of which the Coulter pine is a part.

Initially, PSW researchers gathered the seeds, identifying their genetic makeup and carefully mapping their collection origin from throughout the region. After having been sown at the Institute of Forest Genetics in Placerville, CA, some of the seedlings were then transported to the Cottontail plantation on the Angeles National Forest. Site preparation at Cottontail involved masticating, flagging and plotting over a 3.2 acre area. In March, sixteen hundred seedlings were planted with the help of Forest Service staff and over 100 volunteers.

Coulter pines are an integral part of forest ecosystems in southern California. Once harvested for their large seeds by Native Americans, they now provide valuable forage for squirrels and other wildlife. The plantation at the centerpiece of this project will serve as a source of seeds (of documented origin) that will be used for reforestation projects on the San Bernardino, Angeles, Cleveland and Los Padres National Forests, thus helping ensure an abundant and genetically diverse supply of this native species.

Contact: Karen Fortus, Resource Officer, San Gabriel River Ranger District; (626) 335-1251 or e-mail at kfortus@fs.fed.us.