Dear Friends of the Faculty of Forestry;

One hundred years ago, a few individuals with much foresight founded the Faculty of Forestry at the University of Toronto.  On 28 March 2007, we will be celebrating the Centennial of the opening of our Faculty.  As we reflect on the ways in which the vision for forestry education and research that was developed a century ago has provided a foundation for our contributions to the world as we find it today, we must also develop a vision for the future. How could our founders have envisaged the changes that have occurred during the intervening years?  In our main hallway there is a picture of the first Dean, Bernhard Fernow, sitting on a horse.  Today, we have mechanized harvesters that do much of the work in our forests.  And yet, many things are still the same.  We rely on our greatest resource, people, to make sure that our collective goals are accomplished professionally and with the highest standards of excellence.  University education in forestry, at Toronto, and across this country, has played a pivotal role in shaping the ways in which our forests have been managed.

During our Centennial year, we will be celebrating these successes with a wide variety of activities.  However, not only will we be taking a retrospective look at the last century, but we will also be looking forward strategically over the next 100 years.  What type of future forest conditions do we foresee in Canada, and around the world?  Will our successors be pleased with how we shaped the future as they look back a century from now?

Throughout the next several website pages you will find detailed information on the Centennial activities and how you might participate in the coming months.  As Dean, I am pleased to personally invite you to join us in these events and contribute to their success.  Many people have been involved in the development of this celebratory program, but you, the alumni, current and previous professors and staff, friends of the Faculty, and representatives of the broader university and forestry communities, will form the heart of these celebrations.

Plan to be here in 2007!! I look forward to meeting you and working to shape the future.

C. Tattersall Smith
Dean and Professor