The meeting began at 8:00 PM with chairperson Bill Otrosina and vice-chair Linda Haugen presiding. The proposed agenda for the current committee meeting, the minutes of the 2000 meeting, and the current list of threatening non-indigenous forest pathogens were handed out to participants. We welcomed 4 new committee members (Ned Klopfenstein, Matteo Garbelotto, Joe O’Brien and Enrico Bonello). Due to the late return of the field trip, many attendees were not present at the beginning of the meeting. By the close of the meeting, there were 11 members and 18 non-members present.

APHIS update
Sue Cohen provided a brief update on APHIS activities related to Solid Wood Packing Material (SWPM). The SWPM risk assessment has been completed and comments incorporated. The draft risk reduction analysis is due in mid September, then there will be a 60 day public comment period. They plan to do the EIS after that, with final rulemaking in 2004. APHIS is also working on International Standards for wood packing material. It looks like the general agreement is that heat treatment to 56° C or 30 minutes reduces pest risk to an acceptable level, though there is not good evidence that this will eliminate fungi. The APHIS website has a SWPM link that has additional information on all these activities.

List of Non-indigenous plant pathogens
Everyone received a copy of the current version of the list that Larry Madden’s committee on emerging pest risks has developed. The purpose of this list is primarily to assist APHIS. In this first instance, they want to include only exotic pathogens (e.g. not yet present in the U.S.) and those with very limited distribution in the U.S. We need to review the existing list and add or remove organisms, fill in missing information, and give an indication of severity of the threat each pathogen poses. Matteo Garbelotto, John Lundquist, and Joe O’Brien volunteered to help Linda review and finalize the list. Kerry Britton is also included on this subcommittee, as she is forest pathology’s representative on the committee on emerging pest risks.

Common Names—update
John Kliejunas provided a brief overview of the process to date. At one point, there was a need to reconcile two lists of common names for diseases of Douglas fir (lists developed by Everett Hansen and Frank Tainter). John Kliejunas reconciled the lists by November 1999, but apparently no action was taken to provide the final information to the committee on common names. At last year’s meeting, there was an extensive discussion of the common names list. John agreed to make a few changes to the Douglas fir list, and he submitted this to the committee chair. Apparently, no action was taken again. The final Douglas fir list was published in June 2000. Melody Putnam has indicated that she will not need assistance from the forest pathology committee on additional lists.

Sessions for 2002-Milwaukee
The forest pathology committee has discussed several symposia/sessions to be developed for the 2002 APS meeting in Milwaukee. It has been indicated that due to efforts to contain meeting costs, not all proposed sessions will be held. There are six subject matter sections under which sessions are proposed, and the committee chairs of all the various APS committees will meet on Tuesday August 28 to vote and prioritize the proposed sessions. This information will be used to help APS in selecting which sessions to hold at the 2002 meeting.

Our committee discussed each session that we have proposed:

• *Chestnut Blight: A 10-year case study of disease management using hypovirus. Jane Cummings Carlson is organizing this session. It is proposed for the Biology of Pathogens section. The proposal is well developed, and cosponsoring committees include the biocontrol, epidemiology and regulatory committees.
• *Thanks to Our Farm Industry. Charlie Walkinshaw is developing this discussion session under the Professionalism/Service/Outreach section. He has already done extensive pre-work to gain support from other groups, including the extension, cultural diversity, industry, and graduate committees. He also has lined up outside sources of funding.
• Follow-up on on-line exotics conference. This was initially suggested for 2001, but was not carried forward because the conference was still in planning stages at the time the final info needed to be in. We decided that it was a reasonable topic, but that the forest pathology committee had enough sessions proposed for 2002, so we should consider this one for 2003.
• *Sudden Oak Death: A new disease reported on oaks and rhododendrons in the USA. This is a new topic, which we put forward due to the timely nature and intense interest. Sue Cohen is developing this discussion session under the diseases of plants section. Other committees that have agreed to cosponsor include regulatory plant pathology, ornamentals, and mycology.
• *Forces that shape microbe populations in the forest ecosystem. Ned Klopfenstein is organizing this symposium in the epidemiology/ecology/environmental biology section. The environmental quality and plant health committee volunteered to cosponsor this session.
• Diverse roles of microbes in forest ecosystems. This session was initially proposed for 2001, then was carried forward to 2002 when no-one had time to adequately develop a program. Although it is a good topic, there is still no “champion” to develop it, so we will not carry it forward.

We decided to carry forward proposals for the 4 sessions with asterisks (*).

Sessions for 2003- Charlotte
We had an open discussion to field topics for the 2003 APS meeting in Charlotte, NC. The topics identified and submitted for preliminary consideration were:

• Diseases of Oaks. This symposium is proposed for either the epidemiology or disease of plants section. Terry Shaw and Steve Oak are further developing it. The Diagnostics committee is interested in cosponsoring.
• Inter- and intra-specific hybridization of fungi in natural ecosystems. This symposium was proposed for the biology of pathogens section. Matteo Garbelotto will further develop this topic. (Note—the epidemiology committee is proposing a 2002 session on molecular epidemiology and population genetics. Perhaps there is enough overlap in topic here that we should collaborate.)
• Mitigating the International Movement of Exotic Pathogens Associated with Lumber, Logs, Chips and Solid Wood Packing. See the note on 2002 sessions. Sue Cohen is developing this follow-up to the on-line exotics conference. It would be proposed for the plant disease management section. The regulatory committee would cosponsor.
• Teaching/Training in forest pathology. This discussion session is proposed for the professionalism/Service/Outreach section. Fred Baker is further developing the topic, which could include computer-based instruction, keeping a lab component in teaching, integrating pathology into forestry, and exercises that work.

Student Travel Award
Mee-Sook Kim presented information on developing a student travel award for graduate students to attend the APS meeting. Mee-Sook has been in communication with the APS Foundation and has obtained guidelines for setting up an award. After brief discussion the committee agreed to proceed with establishing a general forest pathology travel award. Mee-Sook will follow up on this. In addition, Gerry Adams is going to pursue developing a named travel award in honor of Fields Cobb. Once established, forest pathology graduate students will be able to compete for these travel awards of approximately $400 to $500. Awards will be perpetual, and will be awarded as frequently as funds accumulate (e.g., the bigger the pot of money, the more often the award will be given. Approx. $8000 is need to provide for a perpetual annual award.)

Communication Efforts
APS is developing an opportunity for committee web pages. APS will host the “splash page” where they will provide consistent information on each subject matter committee. In addition, committees are encouraged to develop (and arrange their own host for) a tailored web page to serve their subject matter area. Carla Thomas volunteered to host and help develop (within reason) a simple website for the forest pathology committee. For the current time, Linda Haugen will be the APS contact about the forest pathology committee web page.

Bill Livingston and Linda Haugen are maintaining a list of websites related to forest pathology. If anyone wants to view the list, it is on the web at http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/fhwebsites.htm and http://www.umaine.edu/fes/Classes/int256/home/web_sites.htm
Suggestions/additions are welcome!

Update on Online Exotic Pest Workshop
Kerry Britton provided a brief summary of the workshop, which was conducted online from April 16th through May 13th, 2001. The workshop would not have been possible without the assistance of Cindy Ash (Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!), Steve Krommiller, and a multitude of others who are listed on the online exotics workshop website (see the section on organizing committee members). About 3000 unique visitors attended the workshop. There were 43 papers organized into 8 sessions. We received endorsement and/or financial sponsorship from a number of agencies and organizations, many of them international. The workshop can still be visited online at http://apsnet.org/online/ExoticPest/index.html
We discussed potential follow-up, such as publication of a hardcopy version of the workshop (it will be available on the web and CD-rom). This was sent back to the workshop organizing committee to work out.

Nominations for new committee members
The committee thanked the outgoing members (Diane Bannwar Bright, Louis Bernier, Sue Cohen, Richard Hamelin, Julia Kerrigan, Paula Spaine, Jim Walla, and Kerry Britton) for their service over the past three years. The people nominated as new members include: Mee-Sook Kim (University of Idaho), Terry Shaw (USDA Forest Service, WO Research), Steve Oak (USDA Forest Service, Southern Region S&PF), and Bruce Moltzan (Missouri Department of Conservation). Final committee appointments will be made by APS. Sue Cohen was nominated and approved for the position of vice-chair in 2002-2003.

Field Trip for 2002
Glen Stanosz is proposing a 2-day forest pathology field trip for the 2002 meeting in Milwaukee. Participants would fly into Green Bay, Wisconsin the night before, and then depart for the Menominee Indian Reservation in the morning. On the second day, the tour would proceed downstate to Milwaukee, stopping at several points along the way. The group endorsed the idea of a two-day trip for 2002.

The tired, happy portion of the group that were on the 2001 forest pathology field trip were well pleased with their trip up Logan Canyon. This year’s field trip had at least 93 participants. Many thanks to Fred Baker for organizing a super field trip!

The meeting was adjourned shortly after 9:30 PM, August 25, 2001.

Respectfully submitted,
Linda M. Haugen