About the Centre

Map of our Location

Plan of the Centre

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History of the Centre

When the first settlers arrived on the Canadian prairies, they were faced with vast expanses of open grassland. Over much of the southern prairie, trees were found only in coulees and along river banks.

In 1901, the Forest Nursery Station, was established by the Government of Canada under the Department of the Interior. It was intended to supply hardy tree and shrub material to prairie farmers, as the material they brought from their homelands, or from eastern Canada or the United States was often not hardy enough for the harsh prairie climate.

Orders for deciduous trees increased from a few thousand in 1904 to more than 2 million by 1906. A second nursery was established in 1913 at Sutherland, Saskatoon and in 1914 production of coniferous tree species was included at the Indian Head nursery. By 1950, the nursery had expanded to 640 acres (258.6hectares) to meet increasing demands. After installation of irrigation facilities at Indian Head in 1965, the Sutherland operation was discontinued and the productive capacity of the Indian Head nursery increased to 7 million trees annually.

In 1963, the Shelterbelt Centre at Indian Head Saskatchewan became part of PFRA. A series of improvements began at this time including a new water reservoir for irrigation and cold storage facilities for tree and shrub storage. These and other changes have stabilized seedling production and increased the ability of the nursery to produce large numbers of healthy seedlings for prairie clients.

Initially the nursery was a single quarter section of land (64 hectares) and produced seedlings of a few native tree species such as Manitoba maple, green ash and American elm. In 1906 the nursery expanded to 320 acres (128 ha) in size. In 1909, hardwood cuttings of Missouri cottonwood, Russian poplar and American willow were added to the list of available species. In 1910 caragana was first distributed with production of Scots pine and white spruce following in 1914. A mainstay in many farmyard shelterbelts today, Colorado spruce, was not produced until 1937.

Today the Shelterbelt Centre is 640 acres (256 ha) in size and produces 29 hardy tree and shrub species. Annually the Centre distributes over 5 million trees and shrubs to 10,000 prairie clients.

During the severe drought of the 1930's Shelterbelt Centre staff worked with the newly formed PFRA to plant field shelterbelts and demonstrate their use for soil conservation. Major plantings were established at this time at Lyleton, Manitoba; Porter Lake, Alberta; Aneroid, Saskatchewan and Conquest, Saskatchewan. Over 2,000 km of shelterbelts were planted, many of them still present today.

In 1963 the Shelterbelt Centre at Indian Head Saskatchewan became part of PFRA. A series of improvements began at this time including a new water reservoir for irrigation and cold storage facilities for tree and shrub storage. These and other changes have stabilized seedling production and increased the ability of the nursery to produce large numbers of healthy seedlings for prairie clients.

The nursery began public information activities in its early years (1904-1916) by placing displays in fairs, presenting talks for farm groups and horticultural societies and preparing newspaper advertisements and publications, bulletins and pamphlets.

In 1920, the CPR donated a railway coach to the prairies provinces Forestry Association which was operated to promote tree planting in the prairies. The displays depicted forestry as well as shelterbelts. The tree planting car operated until 1973, when rail travel became impractical, at which time it was located on the Manitoba Forestry Association property near Winnipeg to serve as a museum.

In 1969, a "bunk house" trailer was converted into a display trailer and was used to visit fairs. More recently, detailed panel displays have been used at fairs and other public events.

Tours of the nursery for the general public and professional organizations are held periodically to demonstrate the activities of the Shelterbelt, as well as advise rural communities of the benefits of shelterbelts.

Field days in 1969 and 1977

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