Hudson Bay Timber Survey 



««5 



trees, burns the moss away from the 

 roots, thufl leaving? the trees unsup- 

 ported, and killH the individual 

 trees hy scorching? thf* foliage and 

 injurint; the caiiibiuin. 



It is very difflciilt to protect this 

 region at present, as it is so remote 

 from any nieans of tranHportation, 

 but the eountry is, and hIiouUI be, 

 proteete(J, as far as it is economical 

 to p?t's.M-vt' tlie present stand for the 



protection of game and fur-bearing 

 animals. The watershed of the 

 Nelson river should be protected by 

 koeping the forest-cover establishi^d. 



Althouf^h the supply of ties is 

 rather limited, the possible supply of 

 e<)rdwood. fence-posts and mining 

 props is enormous. On account of 

 its remoteness from settlement, how- 

 ever, it hns little eominereial valu*?. 



Forestry Branch Field Work, 1911 



The vvt>rk of the parties throuLjIi- 

 out tlie west has been considerably 

 ham{)ered in nearly every case by 

 continued wet weather. Of the? two 

 parties under Mr. Edgecombe, the 

 northern party reached Hay River 

 about the middle of August and con- 

 tinued tlie work until they tied in 

 at the junction of the fifteenth base 

 line and the sixth meridian, when a 

 number of the nietnbers had to lenve 

 the party to return to college. The 

 soutliern j^arty was also consider- 

 ably delayed on account of rain and 

 eonse(pient floods in the rivers. Of 

 the eastern boundary of the reserve 

 from the eleventh base line to the 

 (tnmd Trunk Pacific Railway line 

 some forty or fifty miles were left 

 uncompleted by the party, but it Is 

 expecti'd that these will be covered 

 before the end of the season. 



y[\\ D. R. Cameron, who is engag- 

 ed in the timber survey around 

 Lesser Slave Lake, also reports very 

 bad weather. On the whole the re- 

 sults of the survey are rather disap- 

 pointing, although it was feared 

 that, as the result of fire, no great 

 amount of mature timber would be 

 found. The eountry has been ex- 

 plored to an average depth of 

 twenty miles around the lake. For 

 the most part, only small patches of 

 large timber have been found, most 

 of the eountry south of the lake be- 

 ing waste land with only scattered 



M^Muuii. iiiMi, un<i that mostly pop- 

 lar. Some good timber, however, 

 has been found. Some of the coun- 

 try is very difficult to travel in; 

 along the north shore of the lake, 

 which is covered with large bould- 

 ers, men and horses must make their 

 way as best they can over these. 



The work of Mr. Van Dusen's^ 

 party in the Porcupine Hills, Sask.,* 

 lias been considerably hampered by 

 the wet weather. A considerable 

 area, however, has been examined, 

 which is bounded, roughly, by the 

 Canadian Northern Railway on the 

 !U)rth and east, the present northern 

 boundary of the reserve on the 

 south, and on the east by a line 

 drawn north from the western 

 boundary of Township 42, Range 28, 

 west of the first meridian. 



The party under Mr. R. G. Mc- 

 Dougall ha.s completed its examina- 

 tion of the Porcupine Hills, Alta., 

 and has found a considerable area 

 suitable for setting aside as a for- 

 est reserve. As a result of the work 

 it is expected that a tract of some 

 one hundred and ninety-six square 

 miles adjoining the Rocky Mountain 

 Forest Reserve is likely to be added 

 to the Dominion forest reserves. Mr. 

 McDougall is now eagaged on an ex- 

 amination of lands proposed to he 

 added to the Nisbet and Pines R^ 

 serves. 



Mr. Curry on August 28th report- 



