CTIA History

The Canadian Tree Improvement Association dates back to December 22, 1937 when the First Conference on Forest Tree Breeding and Propagation was held at the National Research Laboratories of the National Research Council of Canada in Ottawa. Five people attended. Four more meetings were held in 1938 and one in 1939. The first meeting of the Subcommittee on Forest Tree Breeding, Associate Committee on Forestry, under the National Research Council of Canada was held in June 1939. This group met annually or biannually for 14 years. Drs. Carl Heimberger and John Farrar were active attendees at most meetings. Mark Holst made his first appearance in 1951. A total of 24 meeting were held.

In 1953 the inaugural meeting of the Committee on Forest Tree Breeding was held in Ottawa. The Committee was sponsored by the Forestry Branch, Department of Resources and Development and 12 attended. The Committee met annually until 1958 after which meetings were held biennially due to “meetings entailed a lot of work and that a fresher outlook can be presented in the longer time interval.” The fifth meeting was the start of the Proceedings being published as Parts 1 and 2. Part 1 was minutes and discussion and Part 2 consisted of member’s reports and papers. By now, over 20 people were attending.

At the 14th meeting, in 1973, the name was changed to the Canadian Tree Improvement Association and a draft constitution and bylaws was accepted. There were now 54 Active members and 57 “breeders” attended this meeting. The Association has continued to meet biennially throughout Canada, except for the 27th meeting. Active membership now stands at 82 and Honourary membership is comprised of 17 individuals who have had long, distinguished careers in tree breeding, genetics, improvement or seed.

Themes of Past CTIA Meetings