From Keith Woeste, U.S. Forest Service Hardwood Tree Improvement and Regeneration Center (HTIRC)
Dear Friends of butternut;
This letter and THIS CLICKABLE PDF FILE are about butternut (Juglans cinerea). We are providing them to keep you informed about what is happening with butternut and butternut-related research, especially at Hardwood Tree Improvement and Regeneration Center (HTIRC). HTIRC is research collaboration between the USDA Forest Service (Northern Research Station) and Purdue University (http://www.HTIRC.org).
The PDF file contains a description of the mission of HTIRC with respect to butternut, some photos, descriptions of ongoing butternut research, and links to some butternut-related websites.
Many hundreds of foresters, biologists, naturalists and landowners have contacted HTIRC over the past 10 years about butternut. I cannot thank you enough for your pictures and samples and other contributions to our work. I have only ‘met’ most of you by email after you contacted HTIRC. In some cases, your interest and willingness to help were so great that our staff and resources were overwhelmed by the volume of samples and requests. As a consequence, at times I didn’t reply to some inquiries in a timely manner or with all the data you requested. I am sorry for that, and I wish I had more time and resources to offer. Butternut canker is only one of many threats to the sustainability of the eastern hardwood forest, a resource we all value. At a time when funds are scarce, the best way forward is to communicate and cooperate. We do want to hear from you if you have thoughts about research priorities or research opportunities, or if you have resources that may help.
There is no “Butternut Society” or other organized group especially for butternut recovery—at least none that I am aware of. So for now, we will do our best to keep you informed with periodic letters and updates to our website. There is much to do if we are to succeed in keeping butternut a vital part of the eastern hardwood forest. We improve our chances if we all pull together. We expect that updates about butternut will be provided on an occasional basis—certainly no more frequently than twice each year.
Write to me at woeste@purdue.edu if you have any questions or need additional information. My complete contact information is below. Please share this information with anyone who you think will be interested in it.
Yours sincerely,
Keith Woeste
U.S. Forest Service Hardwood Tree Improvement and Regeneration Center (HTIRC)
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
New York Flora Association Blog 