A proposed climate-based seed transfer system for British Columbia

Summary: A well-designed seedlot selection system is central to the maintenance of healthy and productive forest plantations, particularly in an era of rapidly changing climates. Opportunities for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of seedlot selection in British Columbia are provided by new technologies, analysis techniques, and genetic data. We propose a climate-based system of seed transfer that is expected to better match seedlots to planting sites using new transfer functions to identify biogeoclimatic ecosystem classification units where each seedlot is anticipated to grow well. The system also: (1) facilitates the use of assisted migration to reduce climate change impacts to forest health and productivity; (2) allows for wider seedlot deployability; (3) increases ease of use; (4) simplifies system updating; (5) quantifies adaptation of seed source options to improve seed source deployment; and (6) integrates with species selection.