Chris Reynolds and Dan Luscombe from Bedgebury National Pinetum have returned from a month-long trip to China and Vietnam. They were invited to China to participate in a conservation project run by Wuhan Botanic Garden as part of the Global Trees Campaign, an international programme to save threatened trees managed by Fauna & Flora International (FFI) and Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI).

The project, which is financially supported by the Flagship Species Fund from Defra, aims to investigate conservation issues associated with Thuja sutchuenensis, a relative of western red cedar. Until 1999, this species was believed to be extinct in the wild, and the Bedgebury team were fortunate to see it in its natural habitat. When re-discovered, it was identified from the original herbarium specimen held at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (demonstrating the value of such ex situ collections).

With Li Xiaodong from Wuhan Botanic Garden and Li Xiaoya (FFI), Chris and Dan went to the Dabashan Nature Reserve, Chongqing Province, in central China. After travelling by plane, train, car and on foot, they visited remote sites where timber felling has virtually destroyed the natural forests. Often the only places relatively untouched are the inaccessible ridges and mountaintops – which is where the Thujas are still growing. The Bedgebury team provided advice on population assessment, phenology, monitoring techniques, propagation and future cultivation.

This trip supports the Forestry Commission’s bilateral agreement with China, which aims to encourage sustainable forest management. The links forged by Bedgebury National Pinetum with international botanic gardens and conservation bodies could prove invaluable in supporting this work.

In Vietnam, Chris and Dan were invited by FFI to offer advice on a conservation project in the China/Vietnam border area, centred on five highly threatened conifer species. These included the recently discovered Xanthocyparis vietnamensis (Vietnamese golden cypress). Propagation from seed is a key factor in their survival, and it is hoped that the expertise of the Forestry Commission’s Forest Research unit will help in finding solutions, through germination trials. Seedlings will then be used to boost the wild populations of these rare species in protected sites in Vietnam, and to establish ex situ plantings in Vietnam, and possibly elsewhere – for example, at Bedgebury.

These species are seriously threatened by indiscriminate harvesting for timber and will undoubtedly be affected in the future by climate change. Georgina Magin, Co-ordinator of the Global Trees Campaign at FFI, accompanied the Bedgebury team to Vietnam. She commented that the input from the Bedgebury experts, particularly in nursery management and plant propagation and care, is highly valued by FFI. The trip made a significant contribution to developing the capacity of the Vietnamese partners in the project – one of FFI’s priorities in all its projects. The international links and sharing of skills and knowledge that took place is of great benefit to the conservation of these highly endangered conifers.