Determining the Boundaries. 



Work of Dominion Forest Service on East Slope of Rockiet. 



By 0. H. Edgecombe, B.Sc., B.8.F. 



During the past summer two par- 

 ties were employed by the Dominion 

 government in determining the 

 eastern l)oundary of the Rocky 

 ^[ountnin forest reserve. One parly 

 worked nortii from the Sarcee Re- 

 serve (Township XXII, Range IV, 

 west of the fifth Dominion meri- 

 dian) to the 11th base line, the other 

 south to the International Boun- 

 dary. 



The type of tree growth of the 

 Eastern Slope is spruce-pine-poplar. 

 most likely determined by the Noil 

 moisture — the spruce on the freah to 

 moist loams, the pine (jack or lodge- 

 pole) on dry sandy soils, chiefly on 

 north exposures, the poplar coming 

 in under all conditions, but chiefly 

 on south exposures. From the High- 

 wood river south, Douglas fir oc- 

 curred in groves and scattered on 



It'tiutu i;. H. KUg«!«*omh<>. 8«pt., 1910. 



East side of Victoria Peak, showing scattered tree growth towsrda timber Ua*. 

 Altitude about 5,600 feet abOTe sea-level. 



The work of the southern parcy 

 partook of the nature of a recon- 

 naisanco survey, but was in reality a 

 determination of woodland and non- 

 apricultural land from the agricul- 

 tural and also the true grazing 

 land. 



Beside the growth type, the topo- 

 graphy and the nature of the soil, 

 the community (e.g.. along the 

 Crow's Nest Railway) was a consid- 

 erable factor in the determination. 



south exposures. Willow was found 

 on the lower slopes. Ijarch (larix 

 occidentalia) was of scrubby growth, 

 maintaining soil cover on the rooky 

 upper heights, as. for instance, on 

 Tabic ^fountain, at 6,000 ft. altitude 

 and upwards. 



Along the reserve boundary the 

 topography varies from moderate 

 slopes (eight to twenty degrees) in 

 the north to the steep (twenty to 

 forty-five degrees) and often bare 



II 



