2 U.S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE MISC. PUB. 939 



released and distributed publications. We have made some progress 

 in establishing plantations of exotic forest trees to determine their 

 susceptibility to local diseases. Above all, but much more difficult 

 to appraise and document, we have made an excellent start in creating 

 a public awareness of the magnitude of forest disease losses and in 

 promoting serious consideration of methods of reducing them. 



One evidence of the effectiveness of our work to date is this sym- 

 posium in which we will review selected dangerous forest diseases in 

 the continents of the North Temperate Zone. If the information 

 thereby made available is used to deter or prevent the international 

 spread of even one of the pathogens discussed, this Congress will be 

 a success and our working group will have justified its establishment. 



Our efforts and our progress so far are but the first step toward our 

 ultimate objective of lessening forest disease losses in all continents. 

 We will discuss the possibilities of broadening our group activities 

 to stimulate forest disease research, education, and action programs 

 throughout the world. One way would be to organize another 

 symposium in the near future with worldwide coverage of selected 

 pathogens considered to be most dangerous if introduced to other con- 

 tinents. Other ways would be (1) to encourage preparation and wide 

 distribution of reports listing under each genus of important forest 

 trees the name, diagnostic characteristics, and distribution of dan- 

 gerous pathogens; (2) to recommend more effective quarantine proce- 

 dures; and (3) to organize a corps of specialists in each continent 

 responsible for promoting forest disease research, prevention, and 

 control activities. 



As chairman of your working group, I want to express my sincere 

 appreciation to each member for your hearty cooperation in our 

 activities, especially for the way that you have participated in the 

 preparations for this Congress. Also, I wish to thank our section 

 leader, Dr. Biraghi, and our president, Mr. Macdonald, for their 

 invaluable assistance in scheduling our meetings and otherwise con- 

 tributing to our objectives. With the continued enthusiastic support 

 of all concerned, I am sure that our future contributions to the 

 advancement of forest disease control programs can be increasingly 

 significant. 



