Species Profiles for Pacific Island Agroforestry

Species Profiles for Pacific Island Agroforestry

Summary

Meets the needs of extension agents, producers, and land users by creating a concise, practical, user-friendly information resource for traditional Pacific Island tree species. The project is producing a series of 4–8 page fact sheets for fifty of the most important species for agroforestry in the region. Each fact sheet provides information on products, uses, interplanting applications, environmental requirements, propagation methods, and cultivation techniques.

Objectives/Performance Targets

• To strengthen NRCS and CES agent understanding of and proficiency in Pacific Island tree species and their products and uses;

  To meet the defined needs of NRCS, extension, and other agricultural professionals by creating concise, practical, user-friendly species profiles (4-8 page fact sheets) for fifty outstanding Pacific Island agroforestry species;

  To produce selection tables of the fifty species sorted by associated crops, agroforestry uses/products (i.e., windbreak, timber, fruit), and five climatic zones;

  To distribute a searchable CD with live internet links and a reproducible, bound and printed set of the species profiles and selection tables to fifty NRCS, CES, and other agricultural organizations in the American-affiliated Pacific Islands;

  To publish the species profiles on the internet (www.agroforestry.net) for viewing in HTML (using a web browser) and downloading in PDF format (for reading with the free Acrobat Reader) for at least a three year period;

  To assess the effectiveness and benefits of above objectives by conducting a follow-up survey of recipients three months after distribution of the completed species profiles.

Accomplishments/Milestones

• The fifty species were selected by nine contributing authors who were surveyed regarding their choices for top priority species from a list of 150 species candidates.

  A total of 20 experts were recruited to author the fifty species profiles (see list of contributing authors above).

  Thirty (of fifty) species profile drafts have been submitted by authors and are in production and review.

  Ten people have reviewed species profile drafts.

  Over 175 photographs of 42 species have been submitted and processed for publication. We are on track to well exceed our original expectation of 100 photographs for the entire set of fifty species profiles.

  A test version of one profile was posted to agroforestry.net at http://www.agroforestry.net/pubs/tti/morinda.pdf.

  The first author update was sent out and posted to http://agroforestry.net/proj/authorupdate1.html.

  We have made preliminary arrangements with the USDA Plants Database http://plants.usda.gov/ and AusAID’s South Pacific Regional Initiative On Forest Genetic Resources (SPRIG) to distribute the species profiles on their web sites, in parallel with distribution on agroforestry.net.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

There are many questions that Pacific Island farmers, ranchers, landscapers, and landholders must have answered in order to bring native and traditional tree species back into active use. The Species Profiles will be unprecedented in the practical, user-friendly, and readily accessible information they provide for extension agents to answer this need.

Community benefits include:

Perpetuating ecologically and culturally vital tree species

Strengthening sustainable Pacific Island development and economic diversification

Fostering the use of locally appropriate, time-tested tree species (as opposed to unproven and potentially invasive exotics)

Empowering extension agents to support their clients in successfully re-establishing local tree favorites

Collaborators: