Forests occupy one-third of the global land, covering more than four billion hectares of the planet and play key roles in the water, oxygen, nutrient cycles, and carbon sequestration. Conifer trees are the most important tree species for plantation establishment, wood production, and tree improvement programs (FAO 2015). Norway spruce and Scots pine are the two economically and ecologically dominant species in Sweden, but adequate genomic resources are so far lacking due to conifer genomes being extremely large and complex. This application concerns the first and second phase of a 6-year 80 MSEK KAW strategic investment program run jointly by the Umeå Plant Science Center (UPSC) and Science for Life Laboratory (SciLifeLab) to maintain Swedish conifer research at the absolute international forefront, including fundamental functional conifer biology, biodiversity conservation, and large-scale breeding applications. This program builds on previous successful efforts to establish Norway spruce as a model species for Swedish plant research. SNIC resources applied for here are essential to reach high-quality reference genomes of Norway spruce and Scots pine, as well as extensive population genomics to understand adaptive traits and to provide the basis for effective breeding.