Report of the Department of Lands and Forests for fiscal year ending March 31, 1950 Page 124 



DIVISION OF RESEARCH 



The Division of Research is a fact-finding organization which furnishes the 

 Department with information and develops techniques to enable more effective 

 administration of the natural resources under Departmental jurisdiction. In this 

 respect the work of the Division is of a pioneering nature, in that it seeks to provide 

 workable answers to specific as well as basic problems of development. 



In the long run, human progress depends on the development of natural 

 resources, and Ontario's high standard of living and general progress cannot be 

 maintained lacking a parallel improvement in the management of her resources of 

 lands, forests and waters. 



As the agency of the Provincial Government charged with the administration 

 of the bulk of the Province's natural resources, the Department of Lands and Forests 

 has a difficult and important public duty. In its efforts to assist the Department, the 

 Division of Research has set up three general operating services to provide: 



1. Accurate statements of administrative and technical requirements. 



2. Factual information and improved operating techniques. 



3. A testing and demonstration service. 



To supply the three services indicated above, the Division maintains a staff at the 

 main Research Station, near Maple, and regional research officers. The staff has been 

 increasing steadily, totalling 31 full-time and 10 temporary employees in 1949, plus 

 a seasonal staff averaging 80. Of the permanent staff, 20 were technical and 1 1 non- 

 technical, while the temporary staff was composed of 2 technical and 8 non-technical 

 employees. The full-time technical staff included 5 biologists, 2 chemists, 9 foresters, 

 a mechanical engineer, a photogrammetrist, a soil specialist and a statistician. 



The buildings and facilities at the Southern Research Station, Maple, were 

 further expanded and improved in 1949. The new biological research building and 

 Quonset storage building were started and largely completed during the year. The 

 storage building will be ready about July 30 and the biological building about 

 December of 1950. The fisheries laboratory was further equipped, but the refrigerating 

 apparatus has still not been delivered. A potting shed was completed for the green- 

 house. A portion of the woodlot on the property was thinned and the thinnings utilized 

 for lumber and fuel. The remainder will be done when the building program is com- 

 pleted. About 500 ornamental trees were set out as well as 300 feet of hedge. A planta- 

 tion of food plants for wildlife was established. An experimental plantation has been 

 started on 80 acres of land reserved for research purposes in Gwillimbury township. 



The Division co-operates closely with a number of other research organizations 

 with respect to projects in Ontario. Whenever possible, working arrangements are 

 being recorded in written agreements and contracts. These exist now with the Research 

 Council of Ontario, the University of Toronto, and the Science Service of the Federal 

 Department of Agriculture. Less formal arrangements are in force with the Ontario 

 Research Foundation, the National Research Council, and the Forestry Branch of the 

 Department of Resources and Development. Ottawa. 



The work of the Division is reported in the following under the main subject 

 heads of Fisheries, Wildlife, Silviculture, Mensuration, Soils, Pathology, Entomology, 

 Mechanics and Statistics. 



