Current Literature 299 



The area covered by this report lies mostly in the drainage basin 

 of the Smoky River and its tributaries, whose waters flow into the 

 Peace River in Alberta. The author's exploration extended over 

 seven months and some 9500 square miles of territory were 

 examined. About 8,000 square miles were found to be forest 

 land and 1500 square miles prairie land, the latter being a south- 

 eastward extension of the Peace River prairie country in British 

 Columbia. It appears that only about one third of the forest 

 land is covered with forest. About 2.6 million acres, or more 

 than half of the forest land, have been burned, most of it several 

 times, in the past 30 years. Approximately, one third of the 

 burned area is restocking in potentially commercial quantities. 

 The rest of it is probably destroyed forever, from the standpoint 

 of commercial forests, unless it is artificially restocked. 



Virgin forest occupies a little more than one quarter of the 

 actually forested area and about one twelfth of forest soil of the 

 region. What there is of it, however, is in good condition, since 

 it is estimated to contain approximately three billion feet of 

 saw timber, around 7,000 feet per acre, besides three million 

 cords of firewood. The forest is composed of spruce to the 

 extent of 70 per cent of the stand, the remaining portion being 

 pine and poplar. Stands from 50 to 100 years old occupy 28 

 per cent of the forested area. They are estimated to contain 

 about three quarters of a billion feet of saw material and four 

 and a quarter million cords of firewood. These stands are 

 about one half pine and one third spruce. Pole-timber forest 

 less than 50 years old occupies 735,000 acres, or 46 per cent of 

 the forested area. In these stands poplar leads with 42 per 

 cent, pine follows with 38 per cent, and spruce contributes only 

 10 per cent to the composition. This area is estimated to yield 

 about 3.5 million cords of firewood. 



This forest of the younger age classes probably had its origin 

 from the results of burning, leaving only that classed as virgin, 

 above 100 years old (8% of the area), as having escaped the 

 ravages of fire in the past 100 years. The author estimates 

 that on the tract examined 16,000 million feet of merchantable 

 spruce and pine timber have been destroyed by fire in the past 

 30 years. The author says : "The results of repeated fires have 

 been appalling. However, the comparative figures, and other 



