144 



Furthermore, scientists must have sufficient knowledge to respond to those pests which are not 

 considered to be serious problems in the native habitat but which prove devastating once 

 introduced. For example, the Asian fungi that have virtually eliminated the American chestnut 

 and the American elm and are seriously depleting flowering dogwood cause relatively minor 

 damage to the Asian species which are their natural hosts (Lattin; APHIS 1994; dogwood based 

 on oral comment by U.S. nurseryman). 



Scientists must also be able to respond when pest organisms evolve more virulent strains. 

 Examples include Dutch elm disease (Burkman, et al.; USDA Forest Service 1991), Asian and 

 hybrid gypsy moths, and the pear thrips. 



The Natural Resources Defense Qauncil appreciates the interest of the Subcommittee on 

 Specialty Crops and Natural Resources in this important issue which affects all who use or 

 appreciate our forests and tree crops. We look forward to working with the Subcommittee on 

 developing more effective pest-control programs within the Department of Agriculture. 



Literature Cited 



Anonymous. "Sugar Maples of Northeast Die, the Victims of Years of Acid Rain." The Sunday 

 Oregonian. May 19, 1991. p. A22. 



Boyce, J.S. 1961. Forest Pathology, Third Edition, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc. New York. 



Burkman, W. Q. Chavez, R. Cooke, S. Cox, S. DeLost, T. Luther, M. Mielke, M. Miller- Weeks, 

 F. Peterson, M. Roberts, P. Seve, and D. Twardus. 1993. Northeastern Area Forest Health 

 Report. NA-TP-0.^-93. United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. Northeastern 

 Area State and Private Forestry, Radnor, Pa. 



Burkman, William, personal communication to Faith T. Campbell of NRDC. 



Grimsley, K.D. They Can't Sell the Forest for the Trees. The Washington Post . December 1994. 



Kendall, K.C. and S.F. Amo. 1989. Whitebark pine - an important but endangered wildlife 

 species. In Proceedings - Symposium on Whitebark Pine Ecosystem: Ecology and Management of 

 a High-Mountain Resource. Bozeman, Mt. March 29-31, 1989. Schmidt, W.C. and K.J. McDonald, 

 Compilers, pp. 264-273. 



Kucera, D.R. 1992. New introduction. Common pine shoot beetle. Pest Alert, United States 

 Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Area, NA-PR-??-92. 



Lattin, J.D. Oregon State University Department of Entomology. Personal communications to 

 F.T. Campbell, July 29 and October 9, 1992. 



Ledig, F.T. 1992. Human Impacts on Genetic Diversity in Forest Ecosystems. Oikos 63: 87-108. 

 Copenhagen 1992. 



