National Assessment of Forest Pathology

Learning Objectives:

• Upon completion the participants will have a clear understanding of the impact of forest pathogens in the forests of the United States. The impacts of tree disease caused or aggravated by climatic conditions as well as native and invasive pathogens. The interactive aspects of decline and disease complexes, Additionally, an illustration of the threats of unintentional distribution of organisms that, while benign in their geographical region of origin, pose serious forest disease threats elsewhere.
• Participants will understand the fundamental and applied research on forest diseases to include an understanding of tree, pathogen, vector and environmental interactions as well as invasive species biology and genetics that provides the basis for strategies, methods, and tools for forest management.
• An understanding of ongoing management of established diseases at the local to landscape level, including management strategies to restore tree species and forested landscapes altered by disease. We follow with technological advances to detect and monitor forest diseases and pathogens using landscape-level approaches and genomic and biochemical methods, respectively. We also address the economics of forest disease and the social and cultural aspects of forest diseases in the United States. Finally, we identify challenges and opportunities posed by forest diseases both now and in the future.