Forest Investigations in Canada 505 



set of conditions, is the actual financial return from a given area 

 of forest land. 



Technical Practice vs. Present Administrative Demands 



Forestry includes two very well marked aspects, the adminis- 

 trative and the technical. Under conditions that exist in America 

 these are very frequently widely separated from each other, so 

 that we have the very common occurrence of men wholly with- 

 out technical knowledge, actively and successfully engaged in 

 the administration of forest properties. The question, there- 

 fore, immediately presents itself, "Why train men to become 

 technical foresters if they are really to be employed as non- 

 technical administrators? Would it not be more logical to train 

 them as administrators with some elementary forestry as a side 

 issue?" Undoubtedly it would if there were not always in the 

 background the idea that ultimately trained foresters would 

 practise forestry, not simply administer timber lands. 



Now I take it that you will agree with me that as foresters 

 we are primarily interested in seeing forestry practised to the 

 fullest degree that is economically feasible. We are interested 

 on the one hand as a matter of bread and butter, and on the other 

 because we believe that the handling of the nation's forests on 

 a sustained yield basis is fundamentally the right national policy, 

 and the best all-round procedure to follow in dealing with this 

 important national resource. I personally fail to see how the 

 existence of a body of trained professional foresters in any 

 country can be justified except on the basis of the present or ulti- 

 mate practice of forestry in a technical sense, any more than 

 you could justify the existence of a body of trained agricultural- 

 ists except by the practice of scientific agriculture. 



This, of course, brings up the rather hackneyed comment that 

 forestry can only be practised where it is economically practical, 

 and that it will be so practised when and where economic condi- 

 tions permit. With the former I have no quarrel except to 

 point out that in state forestry, local interests, particularly when 

 extremely vociferous, are very frequently allowed to defeat a 

 national policy that is entirely feasible from a national economic 

 standpoint, although temporarily disadvantageous to the imme- 

 diate locality. 



