ONTARIO REPORT: Celebrating Twenty Years of Cooperation and Growing
by Paul D. Charrette, RPF

It has been 20 years since the first cooperative tree improvement program was established in Northwest Ontario (NWO) and the trees as well as the cooperative spirit have grown steadily since then. The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR) and the forest industry in NWO have cooperated to increase forest productivity through establishing and managing tree improvement programs. In 1987, the first cooperative tree improvement program in the region was established through the foresight and efforts of staff at the OMNR and the forest industries in the Thunder Bay area. The initial cooperative efforts also received support from the federal government through the Canada-Ontario Forest Resources Development Agreement (COFRDA). From its start in the Thunder Bay area, the cooperative spirit spread across NWO until today, where all major forest companies and the OMNR cooperate in all tree improvement programs in the region.

The Superior-Woods Tree Improvement Association, which is part of Forest Genetics Ontario, heads up the cooperative tree improvement movement in NOW, and as with many successful organizations, has had to adapt with the changing times. The OMNR started the first tree improvement programs and the first cooperative programs were established five years later with the OMNR and industry partners sharing in all aspects of the program. However, in the mid-1990s the forest industry became responsible for all silvicultural activities, which included tree improvement. The OMNR and forest industry continue to cooperate and support the tree improvement programs although their respective roles have changed over time. 

The cooperative tree improvement programs are now bearing fruit and are providing a large and increasing percentage of the seed demand for operational tree planting programs across the region. Thirty tree improvement programs have been established for the commercially important species - black spruce and jack pine, and to a lesser extent, white spruce. The black spruce and jack pine orchards were established with off-spring of 400 “plus-trees”, or trees selected from wild stands for superior growth and form. Over time the plus-tree families have been tested in over 65 field plantings. The information gained from the tests has been used to thin the orchards genetically, thereby maintaining only the most productive and highest quality families for seed production. The superior growth and form of trees retained in the orchards have resulted in improved seed, which is inherently more productive than wild seed. Based on test results, the use of improved seed will result in 5-8% greater volume over wild seed. In many areas of the region, improved seed from these orchards now supplies all the seed used by tree nurseries to grow black spruce and jack pine seedlings for operational tree planting programs. In this way the cooperative efforts in tree improvement contribute to an increase in forest productivity in the region, which benefits everyone. In addition, the success of the first generation tree improvement programs has led the forest industry and OMNR, with funding assistance from the Living Legacy Trust (LLT), to start work on the next generation of tree improvement programs. Cooperation between forest industry and OMNR has lead to 20 years of successful tree improvement, and it’s still growing.