The FAO Panel of Experts on Forest Gene Resources was established in accordance with the directives (Numbers 244 and 245) of the Fourteenth Session of the FAO Conference in November 1967. Each member serves for a period of four years. The first panel (1968–1972) met twice, in Rome in 1968 and in Macon, Georgia, USA, in 1971. Reports have been published from these two meetings (FAO 1969, FAO 1972).
The members of the first Panel were:
| Chairman | R.Z. Callaham | USA | |
| Vice-Chairman | R. Morandini | Italy | |
| Members | H. Barner | Denmark | |
| J.F. Lacaze | France | ||
| D.A.N. Cromer | Australia | ||
| alternate | J.W. Turnbull | ||
| W.G. Dyson | East Africa | ||
| C. Ehrenberg | Sweden | ||
| J. Groulez | France | ||
| A.F.A. Lamb | U.K. | ||
| R. Villaseñor A. | Mexico | ||
| B. Zobel | USA | ||
| alternate | R.C. Kellison |
The function of the Panel is to “help plan and co-ordinate FAO's efforts to explore, utilize and conserve the gene resources of forest trees”.
