Section IV., 1894. [ 3 ] Trans. Roy. Soc. Canada. 



I. — The Forests of Canada and their DistrUni.tloii., with Notes on the more fnterestiwj 



Species. 



By John Macoun, M. A. ; F. L. S. 



(ReadlMay 22, 1894.) 



The fores^ts of the Domhiion of Canada are one of its chief assets and one that it seems 

 the aim of governments and individuals to annihilate as quickly as possible. Instead of 

 attempts being made to conserve these natural coverings of the land, means, both legitimate 

 and illegal, have been taken to destroy them. In allthe older provinces this has been done 

 to such an extent tliat in many sections that were covered with unbroken forest fifty years 

 ago there is to-day scarcely a tree to be seen. The great fertility of the land in former 

 times is spoken of as if it pertained to the forest when in reality it was due to other causes. 



On the sea coast, cutting away the forests has let in the sea air, and to-day the soil of 

 Prince Edward Island and parts of Nova Scotia is wetter than when the timVier was first cut 

 oft'. As a proof of this, tamarack is now growing in pastures and meadows wliere hardwooil 

 once covered the land, and under-drainage has become an absolute necessity. 



On the other hand the deforesting of Ontario has dried up springs, lessened the flow of 

 rivers, caused sudden and early thaws in winter, and in summer droughts over large areas, 

 and as a result lessened the products of the soil at least one-half Year by yea.\' this state of 

 things is becoming more intensified, yet the supineness of the authorities is so great that no 

 sensible attempt is made to remedy this state of things. The forests of northern Ontario are 

 being cut down to supply the increasing demand for pine and other woods, and in the wake 

 of the cutting follows the annual fires which, besides burning over the districts from which 

 the timber has been cut, extend in many instances through the untouched forests and 

 destroy more timber than the woodman with his axe. Year after year this goes on, and 

 now when a hundred miles or more intervenes between the settlements and the lumber 

 camps, little attention is paid to the subject, but when the public awakes to the truth it will 

 be appalled at the enormous waste and loss that has been going on for more than a generation. 



Some years since a large area was set apart in northern Ontario as a park for the pre-* 

 servation of game and of the natural forest, but more especially as a covering to the soil 

 at the sources of a number of streams falling into the Trent and Ottawa rivers. The pub- 

 lic was not informed of one important fact, however, which was that the lumbermen had 

 rights there that a venal government was going to uphold, and at present much of the park 

 has been cut over, and in a few short years will be a blackened wilderness of naked rocks 

 and dead trees. 



Twenty-five years ago the Algoma district, over 1,000 miles from east to west and we 

 may say 200 miles from north to south, was a solid coniferous forest. To-day most of it 



