Over the past couple of decades more than 400 000 hectares of lodgepole pine, Pinus contorta var. latifolia Engelm. have been planted in northern Sweden (Fig. 1). This makes the species Sweden's third comonest conifer after Pinus silvestris L. and Picea abies L. Because the contorta pine grows so quickly, we shall be able to start harvesting wood from these forests by the turn of the century instead of having to wait another 20-40 year, as we would have had to do if native pine and spruce had been planted. We are talking abour large quantities, at present more than 100 million m3 solid wood. The lodgepole pine is thus a very important asset to the forests of northern Sweden and to the economy of the whole nation. The first trials with the lodgepole pine in Sweden were made at the end of the nineteen- twenties, inspired by earlier experiments in Finland; but cultivation on a commcercial scale was not contemplated until the fifties. At that time we were looking for ways and means of quickly upgrading the condition of the forests in northern Sweden, which left a great deal to be desired. The introduction of a fast-growing tree was seen as one posibility. The older experimental plantations of lodgepole pine had shown that this tree had attractive properties: - It started to grow quickly as soon as it was planted. - It could produce relatively large trees in a short time (short rotation). - The wood was suitable for industrial processing. - It resembled the native pine in many respects. However, the variation in the provenance of the species needed to be investigated because growth conditions in northern Sweden are harsh. Existing experiments gave little information, and the species is very widely distributed (4). At that time no provenance material from the northernmost part of its natural habitat had been brought to Europe, and there was reason to believe that it was here where the most suitable provenances that could be found (19). In 1963 I personally collected seeds in British Columbia, the Yukon territory and Alaska (Fig. 2) . On returning to Sweden I joined Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA), one the country's leading forest companies. We formulated a scheme for introduction as a precursor to possible large-scale use of the species in the company's very extensive forest holdings in the north of Sweden (Fig. 3) . The first crucial step was to test the newly collected lodgepole pine seeds at sites with varying climates. There were many other steps in the introduction scheme. They included establishing large practical plantations for direct comparison of lodgepole and native pines, spacing experiments, studies of the tree's production capacity and studies of the properties of its wood (Fig. 4). The idea was to guide the lodgepole pine safely and methodically into its new Swedish growth environment through dedicated research. This was a .......
