For 35 years, Bill Schroeder was a biologist and research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Agroforestry Development Centre at Indian Head, Saskatchewan.
Bill had a special interest in plant exploration and collecting new and unique tree seeds from around the world. He was among the first modern-day Canadian tree breeders to gain access to remote regions of Siberia and China for seed collection. His pioneering exploration opened the door to new woody plants from areas of the world largely inaccessible until that time. In addition Bill has devoted his working life to developing agroforestry systems for prairie agriculture to improve biodiversity and resilience of agroecosystems
Since his retirement in 2016, Bill has not strayed far from his passion for trees and agroforestry. He started GreenTree Agroforestry Solutions, which provides agroforestry advice to farmers as well as locally sourced tree seed. Writing about trees is his other passion. In 2019 he published his first book The Trees of Indian Head followed by Trees Against the Wind – The Birth of Prairie Shelterbelts in 2023.
When not looking at or writing about trees, Bill and his wife, Janice live in Regina and spend as much time as possible with their grandchildren.