VARIATIONS IN NORTHERN FOREST AND THEIR 

 INFLUENCE ON MANAGEMENT 



By E. F. McCarthy 



The opportunity to compare the forest in the Algoma district of 

 Ontario with that of the Adirondacks brings out several character- 

 istics which indicate a difference in treatment in the early plans for 

 management. The general belief that the northern pulpwood forest 

 is sufficiently uniform in character to permit the formulation of 

 general rules suitable to the region is not borne out in the study of 

 these two sections or two other sections of Canada to which brief 

 reference will be made. 



In the Algoma district red spruce does not appear in townships 23 

 or 24, range 11, or on township 27, range 20, .the Goulais and Agawa 

 River valleys where the study was made. Hemlock and beech were not 

 found, even as isolated species, since the range of the former is limited 

 to the shore of Lake Superior at the Agawa River and it does not come 

 up the streams onto the Laurentian formation, while the beech does not 

 go beyond the north shore of Lake Huron. This limitation of range 

 removes three of the more tolerant species which are found in the 

 Adirondack upland forest. 



In compensation for the loss of these species, white cedar (Thuja 

 occidentalis) takes the place of hemlock on the swamp margins, in the 

 stream courses on the higher ground, and on the higher ledges. Bal- 

 sam extends up the slopes from the swamps through the mixed type 

 and mingles with the cedar along stream courses in the lower edge of 

 the pure sugar maple type. Balsam reaches up the slopes beyond the 

 white spruce, with which it is associated on the softwood flats and on 

 the mixed slopes, showing greater endurance of shade than the spruce 

 in its younger stages. A good percentage of the mixed type is composed 

 of balsam, white spruce, and paper birch on land which in the Adiron- 

 dacks would be spruce flat and the lower slopes of the mixed hardwood 

 and spruce, where yellow birch and soft maple are associated with red 

 spruce, balsam, and hemlock. 



The swamps of Algoma have a larger percentage of black spruce, 

 and it grows to a larger size than in the Adirondacks. It mixes with 



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