SELECTING APPROPRIATE SEED SOURCES FOR REPLANTING AFTER LARGE FIRES OR OTHER DISTURBANCES IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF MAINTAINING HEALTHY FORESTS. HOWEVER, AS TEMPERATURE AND RAINFALL PATTERNS SHIFT, LOCAL TREE POPULATIONS MAY NOT GROW OR SURVIVE AS WELL AS THEY ONCE DID - SO HOW CAN MANAGERS IDENTIFY OTHER SEED SOURCES THAT MIGHT DO BETTER UNDER FUTURE CONDITIONS? ONE APPROACH COULD BE TO SELECT SEED FROM AREAS THAT, IN THE PAST, HAD A CLIMATE THAT WAS SIMILAR TO THAT OF THE PLANTING SITE NOW (OR IN THE NEAR FUTURE). ANOTHER APPROACH COULD BE TO USE GENETICS TO IDENTIFY INDIVIDUAL TREES WHOSE OFFSPRING WOULD LIKELY PERFORM WELL UNDER THE CURRENT OR FUTURE CONDITIONS AT THE PLANTING SITE. IN THIS PROJECT, WE WILL TEST THE ABILITY OF SOURCE CLIMATE VERSUS GENOTYPE TO PREDICT THE GROWTH AND SURVIVAL OF PONDEROSA PINE SEEDLINGS IN A POST-FIRE RESTORATION PLANTING. THE SEEDLINGS IN THIS RESTORATION PLANTING WERE SOURCED FROM AN ORCHARD THAT CONTAINS PONDEROSA PINE GENOTYPES FROM DIFFERENT CLIMATES AND LOCATIONS ACROSS THE SIERRA NEVADA. TWELVE SEED LOTS WERE SELECTED FROM THE LOCAL BREEDING ZONE, 4 FROM EACH OF THE 3 ELEVATION BANDS- LOW, MID AND HIGH. WE CAN CALCULATE THE DIFFERENCE IN CLIMATE BETWEEN THE SOURCE AND THE PLANTING SITE. WE HAVE ALSO SEQUENCED THE DNA OF 223 OF THE TREES IN THE SEED ORCHARD, AND IDENTIFIED PLACES IN THE GENOME THAT VARY DEPENDING ON WHAT CLIMATE THE TREE IS FROM. IN THIS STUDY, WE WILL TEST WHETHER THE NUMBER OF GENETIC VARIANTS PREDICTED TO DO WELL IN THE PLANTING SITE PREDICTS GROWTH AND SURVIVAL OF SEEDLINGS BETTER THAN THE DIFFERENCE IN CLIMATE BETWEEN THE SOURCE AND PLANTING SITE. THE RESULTS WILL HELP DEVELOP TOOLS MANAGERS MAY USE TO SELECT SEED SOURCES FOR RESTORATION OR TREE BREEDING EFFORTS. BECAUSE THIS PROJECT FOCUSES ON A WORKING SEED ORCHARD, CUSTOM SEED MIXES COULD BE DEVELOPED FOR DIFFERENT PLANTING SITES BASED ON THE GENOTYPES OF THE TREES IN THE ORCHARD AND DEPLOYED IMMEDIATELY AT ALMOST NO ADDITIONAL COST.