SILVICULTURAL PROBLEMS OF CANADIAN FOREST 



RESERVES' 



By B. E. Fernow^ 



Last summer, through the courtesy of the Director of the 

 Dominion Forestry Branch, and in his company, the writer had 

 the privilege of inspecting conditions in some of the Dominion 

 Forest Reserves in the prairie provinces and of some parts of the 

 Rocky Mountain Reserves. 



This inspection was made with a view of enabHng the writer 

 as chairman of the newly established Advisory Board of the 

 Forestry Branch, to formulate propositions for investigatory 

 work as a basis for an eventual technical management of the 

 Reserves. 



While ten weeks travel can, to be sure, give only a very super- 

 ficial insight into conditions and problems, contact with actualities 

 and intercourse with the men in charge permits at least a judgment 

 of the general requirements in the administration and manage- 

 ment of these properties. * * * The visitor will, however, at 

 once realize, that to fulfill their function, namely to furnish con- 

 tinuous wood supplies, a systematic technical management is a 

 more or less urgent necessity and should be inaugurated as early 

 as possible upon the basis of carefully prepared working plans. 



So far, in the minds of the public not only, but of officials as 

 well, the problem of the Forest Reserves has appeared of the same 

 nature as that of the mere administration of timber lands ; so far, 

 indeed, hardly more than a timberland administration has been 

 attempted, albeit with a somewhat more conservative disposal 

 of available supplies. Of the practice of forestry, the technical 

 art, there is as yet hardly a beginning. For such an administra- 

 tion as has been hitherto attempted technical men and technical 

 knowledge are hardly required. The fact that most reserves are 

 under the management of non-technical men bears out this con- 

 tention: Forestry practice is still absent. 



The application of forestry means efforts to reproduce the har- 

 vested crop, efforts to make the Reserves continuous producers, 

 to manage them with a view to sustained yield, which can be 



* Before Commission of Conservation of Canada, Ottawa, 1916. 

 2 Dean, Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto. 



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