Overview

Coastal Tree Breeding

• Coastal Douglas-fir
• Western redcedar
• Yellow cypress
• Sitka spruce
• Western white pine (coastal)
• Western hemlock

Interior Tree Breeding

• Interior spruce
• Interior Douglas-fir
• Western larch
• Lodgepole pine
• Western white pine (interior)

Coastal Tree Breeding

Western Hemlock (Charlie Cartwright - Doug Ashbee)

Low Elevation (<650m) Maritime Hemlock

Hemlock is the most under-planted widely used species for regeneration in B.C. It is hoped that this will be rectified as higher gain seed becomes available. Since genetic worth of first generation orchard seedlots has now levelled at around 16% gain, this will only occur through moving to the next generation of selections. To this point 220 trees have been chosen from advanced generation HEMTIC (Hemlock Tree Improvement Co-operative) trials based on age 5 height; (the tests incorporate best parent from first generation programs in Washington State, Oregon and B.C.). As age 10 results are tabulated, starting in the fall of 2005, about half of these early picks will be culled. The advantage of over-selecting, then removing parents that don't come through later, is to have sizeable grafts on hand as soon as the age of selection is reached, (thus cutting several years from the breeding cycle). In overview, from the age 5 data it is apparent that parents from northern Washington State have a slight edge in performance in south coastal B.C. Oregon material has sub-standard performance, though when crossed with B.C. parents can be quite comparable to local sources. As well, it was apparent that the heritability of growth for individual trees was low as was expected for this species. This means that the value of the selections is much more reliant on their family performance than that of the individual within the family. To remedy this for later advanced generation tests, clonal trials are used. In these, several copies of each individual are planted to allow for worthwhile within family selection. In 2005 three test sites of this type were planted. In the meantime, methods of producing a desirable balance of male and female strobali with young selected material in small pots has commenced in order that breeding with the new material can begin as soon as the age 10 data are in.

Note: Participation in HEMTIC by the BC Ministry of Forests has been terminated. As per the Memorandum of Understanding with which the Co-op was established, age 5 data from the HEMTIC tests has been sent thus securing access to all HEMTIC improved material. Continued co-operation with the current members of the co-op is planned, in the hope that further exchanges of data (age 10) can be arranged.

High Elevation (>650m) Hemlock

The advantages of hemlock over other high elevation species include faster growth than yellow cedar and better wood quality than balsam fir. The specie's plan calls for first generation testing of about 300 parents to achieve a 15% level of genetic gain in growth traits. To this point results are in on 240 parents with new breeding values provided this year for 212 of those parent trees. The last series, testing a further 110 poly-cross families, was sown a year ago, but failed in the nursery. About 50 families can be salvaged by transplanting to larger cavity growing containers and a further 60 were re-sown in January.