306 Forestry Quarterly 



strative expenditure. The outlay for protection, toward which 

 the licensees contribute, was for 1914-15 $403,200, for 1915-16 

 fire season only, $182,000. 



Absolute forest land or land bearing the statutory amount of 

 timber, i.e. 5,000 feet per acre east of the Cascade Mountains, 

 and 8,000 feet west, is being reserved from disposal. In the 

 past two years, 1,628,541 acres have been so reserved. In this 

 connection, a land classification is carried on, which during 1914 

 could be done at 4.5 cents per acre, or 1 cent per M feet b.m. 



The Forest Branch is engaged in cooperation with the Com- 

 mission of Conservation in making a survey of the forest re- 

 sources of the Province, and in this connection carries on forest 

 reconnaissances. From these, it has already become evident that 

 previous estimates have been too low, albeit many large bodies 

 of good timber found are for a long time going to be inaccessible. 

 A classification into timber of varying degree of stocking, scrub 

 timber, barrens, burn not yet restocking, burn with good repro- 

 duction, undrainable swamps, muskeg, mountains above timber- 

 line, areas suitable for grazing, etc., is made. 



The staff of the Branch during 1915 was very considerably 

 reduced, from 558 to 378, largely through enlistment, and mostly 

 from the temporary force, which was reduced from 391 to 218; 

 there were, however, 10 technical men among the enlisted, which 

 undoubtedly crippled the force considerably, representing about 

 one third of this staff. 



The largest amount of space, 16 pages, is devoted to the dis- 

 cussion of Forest Protection. It starts with an account of 

 weather conditions. A fire season of unprecedented severity 

 was experienced on the Lower Coast and Vancouver Island, due 

 to lack of rainfall (half the normal) and high temperatures, 

 fortunately with absence of winds. (It has been noticed that 

 with temperature under 70° fires are generally not dangerous, 

 unless accompanied by high winds.) Nevertheless, a smaller 

 area than the previous year was burned, 244,000 against 355,000 

 acres, but the damage was greater, being estimated at 187,900,000 

 feet and $108,873, as against 118,600,000 feet and $72,000 the 

 previous year. 



' Cooperation with the United States Forest Service is organized 

 at the boundary, also cooperation with the Board of Railway 



