This proceedings is a compilation of 24 papers that were presented at the regional meetings of the forest and conservation nursery associations in the United States in 2006. The Western Forest and Conservation Nursery Association meeting was held at the Hilton Resort Hotel and Conference Center in Eugene, Oregon on June 19 to 22. The meeting was hosted by the USDA Forest Service Dorena Genetic Resource Center and Plum Creek Container Nursery. Morning technical sessions were followed by field trips to USDA Forest Service Dorena Genetic Resource Center and Plum Creek Container Nursery in Cottage Grove, and USDA Agricultural Research Service National Clonal Germplasm Repository in Corvallis. Subject matter for the technical sessions included bareroot and container nursery culturing and monitoring, disease management, and native species restoration. The Southern Forest Nursery Association meeting was held July 10 to 13 at the Holiday Inn Select in Tyler, Texas. The meeting was hosted by the Texas Forest Service Indian Mound Nursery. Technical sessions were followed by tours of the International Paper SuperTree Nursery, Agtoprof, and Kiepersol Estate, outside Tyler; International Paper Forest Seed Center in Douglass; and Texas Forest Service Indian Mound Nursery in Alto. Subject matter for the technical sessions included labor relations and regulations, bareroot and container nursery culturing, hardwood management, pesticide use, and outplanting strategies.

The plant species that humans rely upon have an extended family of wild counterparts that are an important source of genetic diversity used to breed productive crops. These wild and weedy cousins are valuable as a resource for adapting our food, forage, industrial and other crops to climate change. Many wild plant species are also directly used, especially for revegetation, and as medicinal and ornamental plants. North America is rich in these wild plant genetic resources. This book is a valuable reference that describes the important crop wild relatives and wild utilized species found in Canada, the United States and Mexico. The book highlights efforts taken by these countries to conserve and use wild resources and provides essential information on best practices for collecting and conserving them. Numerous maps using up-to-date information and methods illustrate the distribution of important species, and supplement detailed description on the potential value these resources have to agriculture, as well as their conservation statuses and needs. There is broad recognition of the urgent need to conserve plant diversity; however, a small fraction of wild species is distinguished by their potential to support agricultural production. Many of these species are common, even weedy, and are easily overshadowed by rare or endangered plants. Nevertheless, because of their genetic proximity to agriculturally important crops or direct use, they deserve to be recognized, celebrated, conserved, and made available to support food and agricultural security. This comprehensive two-volume reference will be valuable for students and scientists interested in economic botany, and for practitioners at all levels tasked with conserving plant biodiversity. The chapters 'Public Education and Outreach Opportunities for Crop Wild Relatives in North America' and 'Genetic Resources of Crop Wild Relatives – A Canadian Perspective' are open access under a CC BY 4.0 license via link.springer.com.