ONTARIO REPORT: Showcasing Our Best
by William F. Murphy, RPF General Manager

Listening to your customers’ needs and providing consistent, innovative solutions makes good business sense. Kevin van Duyn of Hill’s Greenhouses in Thunder Bay, Ontario has applied these principles and it’s paid off. On May 2, the 32 year-old tree seedling grower captured the “Best Local Supplier” award from Abitibi Consolidated at a gala awards ceremony in downtown Montreal. The award is even more impressive considering that Abitibi has roughly 15,000 suppliers worldwide and Kevin’s receipt of the award marks the first time a seedling grower has been recognized with such an honour. Kevin will tell you his principles of success were learned from his father, Herman. The elder van Duyn has never been afraid of change, watching the seedling industry undergo many shifts in technology in the past few decades. “I started in 1978 with an order for only a few thousand trees and not much [technical] help,” Herman explains. As the orders grew into the millions, the MNR initially provided expertise, and eventually the local seedling growers formed their own research co-op (Forest Renewal - formerly LUSTR).

After 29 years and 300 million seedlings, Kevin van Duyn and Hill’s Greenhouses are counting on high-quality local service and home-grown solutions to keep their future and our forests looking green.
Northern Ontario has many top growers like Hill’s and part of their strategy involves growing genetically improved seedlings to be planted on crown land. Ever since the mid 80s, when the first seed orchards were established by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR), orchards have been developed with the expertise of forest company foresters and Forest Genetics Ontario. This organization is working with the forest companies in northwestern and northeastern Ontario to provide genetically improved seed for tomorrow’s forests through first generation seed orchards. Last year, in the northeast, 14,476,800 or 39% of all the jack pine and black spruce seedlings planted were products of improved first generation seed.

 This involved 13 out of 16 different management units that reported on their first generation seed success. In all, they planted a total of 36,876,300 greenhouse-grown tree seedlings. In the northwest, 11 out of 12 management units on crown land reported planting a total of 15,808,400 or 61% of the jack pine and black and white spruce seedlings from improved stock. A total of 25,750,300 greenhouse-grown tree seedlings were planted in the northwest last year. 

Forest Genetics Ontario is now pursuing second generation seed orchards that have been developed through a series of grafting the best first generation selections. We should see results from second generation seed orchards within the next 10 years, and until then we are looking forward to seeing an increased use of genetically improved first generation seed.

We are fortunate to have a great community in Northern Ontario that is committed to providing the highest quality seedlings for our future forests. We need to showcase these efforts to the world, highlighting our local growers and their allied organization as they provide home-grown solutions in a global marketplace.