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IUFRO WP 1.01.06 Ecology and Silviculture of Oaks and 2.08.05 Genetics of Quercus. 1 OAK 2006 International Conference About 100 international forest scientists and managers gathered at the OAK 2006 IUFRO Conference on September 21-27 2006 at Stevens Point, Wisconsin, USA. The conference entitled “Advances in the principals and practices of oak silviculture and genetics” was a joint meeting of IUFRO Units 1.01.06 Ecology and Silviculture of Oaks and 2.08.05 Genetics of Quercus. It was hosted by the College of Natural Resources of the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, and additionally sponsored by the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Wisconsin Society of American Foresters and Stora Enso. Participants came not only from different parts of the U.S. but also from Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Canada, Croatia, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Poland, and Romania. Approximately fifty oral presentations and posters presented current research results on oak ecology, silviculture and genetics. Principles of oak management for valuable timber production were shown, as well as oak resources in different countries, regeneration methods, influences of overstory conditions and weed competition on oak regeneration, and afforestation of oak in agricultural floodplains. The role of environmental factors in oak decline and mortality, oak pathogens, wilt and diseases were addressed. Finally, effects of management practices of oak on forest interior birds, amphibians, reptiles, small mammals, insect herbivore diversity, vegetation, carbon storage, harvest damage, and Armillaria infection were presented as well. The keynote speaker of the conference was Stephen Shifley, Research Forester, USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, U.S.A. who presented what he regarded as the basic concepts for sustainable management of oak and other forests. The basis of these concepts is the fact that in the U.S. wood production is increasingly declining while nature protection aspects are increasing and that future demand in wood consumption will need to be met by imported wood. This means that the impacts – not always positive - of harvesting and consumption will be transferred elsewhere. While the forest resources per capita are far greater in the U.S. than the global average, Shifley regarded the current course of action in the U.S. in respect to timber production and consumption as not sustainable at the global IUFRO WP 1.01.06 Ecology and Silviculture of Oaks and 2.08.05 Genetics of Quercus. 2 level. As a contribution to the sustainability of global forest resources, he therefore suggested that the national volume of timber harvest be brought into balance with the rate of domestic wood consumption, and appealed to consumers, conservationists, and environmentalists to support all actions to support this goal. Conference attendees heard that oak wilt and oak decline are serious problems in oak forests of Wisconsin and elsewhere in the eastern USA. In many areas oak regeneration is severely affected by browsing of white-tail deer, a fact which was confirmed by the frequent appearance of deer during the pre-conference tour. Oak management and research in northern Wisconsin, a program at the Northern Great Lakes Visitor's Center, a boat tour of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, the ecology of Copper Falls State Park, the utilization of recovered underwater logs for the production of Timeless Timber, as well as a visit at to Treehaven, a natural resource and education centre owned and operated by the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, College of Natural Resources provided pre-conference tour participants an opportunity to experience Wisconsin’s rich abundance of natural resources. Subsequent to the ‘inside’ conference, a half-day field trip gave participants an additional opportunity to see how oak is managed in central Wisconsin and the challenges that face forest managers in regard to regeneration, stand tending, thinning and harvesting methodology of oak on different sites. Kaisu Makkonen-Spiecker, Freiburg Photo (by Kaisu Makkonen-Spiecker): Oak discoloration in Wisconsin