Poplars: Trees of the people, trees of the future

Abstract

Poplars and willows have been and are important in human history and affairs but they have not garnered the attention and respect their many positive attributes deserve. They can be even more important in the future as human population pressures increase the need for wood, watershed and riparian rehabilitation and protection, environmental monitoring and improvement, carbon sequestration, phytoremediation and basic biological understanding. Whether, and to what degree, poplars and willows achieve their potential will depend on coordinated action that includes systematic collection of biological materials, establishment of an environmental monitoring network based on poplars and willows, creation of a "poplars, willows and water" task force to assess watershed and riparian rehabilitation tasks, enhanced genome research and an advanced, ecosystem-based regulatory framework for poplar and willow systems based on altered genomes. These must be presented in an ecosystem framework with their risks and benefits clearly described. Key words: poplars, willows, utilization, technology, environment