Canadian Forestry Journal, April, 1919 



167 



A FAIR DEAL FOR WESTERN FORESTS 



"There is still one fundamental point, concern- 

 ing which action by the Dominion Government is 

 vitally necessary in the publict interest. Atten- 

 tion has been called, in successive reports of the 

 Committee on Forests, to the admmistrative 

 anomaly which prevents the Dominion Forestry 

 Branch, a technical organization, with a staff of 

 trained foresters, from havmg any hand in the 

 enforcement of technical cutting regulations on 

 licensed timber berths on Dominion lands, 

 whether inside the forest reserves or not. The 

 licensed timber berths naturally comprise the 

 bulk of the accessible merchantable timber on 

 Dominion lands, and cutting operations on these 

 berths have, from the beginning, been conducted 

 as though the forest were regarded as a mine 

 rather than as a crop, notwithstanding the pro- 



visions of Section 58 of the Dominion Lands Act. 

 In other words, the present interest of the opera- 

 tor has been the primary consideration, rather 

 than the permanent interest of the general 

 public, to whom the lands belong. The methods 

 of cutting are destructive rather than construc- 

 tive, and the administrative machinery of the 

 Government, as to these lands, has been prim- 

 arily directed toward securing revenue, with no 

 adequate provision for seeing that cutting opera- 

 tions are conducted in a manner calculated to 

 leave the area in a productive condition. The 

 anomaly of this situation is complete, and should 

 receive consideration in any proposed scheme of 

 departmental reorganization." — The Commission 

 of Conservation's "Committee on Forests," 1919 

 report. 



PLANTING UP AND — BURNING UP! 



(Extract from the Report of the Committee on Conservation to the Pennsylvania State 

 Grange, Tyrone, December 11, 1918. Cifford Pinchot rvas a leading member of this committee.) 



On the State Forests the percentage of money 

 spent for tree planting is altogether too large, 

 under the present circumstances. For example, 

 far more money is spent for planting than for fire 

 protection — on many of the forests two and 

 three times as much. To devote ten dollars an 

 acre to replanting comparatively small areas 

 each year, and only a cent or two to protect 

 young forests already planted by nature is poor 

 business, especially when it is almost sure, at 

 least in certain places, that the ten dollars will 

 go to furnish fuel for a fire allowed to burn 

 wholly or mainly because of the lack of money 

 spent for adequate protection. 



Until we can be reasonably sure that planta- 

 tions made at heavy expense will not be burned 

 up, and until the trees we have already have 

 been made reasonably safe against fire, it is not 

 good policy to spend money on planting trees. 

 In comparison with other and more necessary 

 work, far too much time and money have been 



spent on planting already in Pennsylvania. 



We recommend that the present stock of seed- 

 lings now ready for transplanting be offered to 

 the French, Belgian, Italian and British Gov- 

 ernments for replanting devastated areas, and 



that except for occasional small nurseries re- 

 quired to furnish the material for instruction, to 

 supply private individuals who will plant, to 

 reforest cleared ground which can surely be pro- 

 tected from fire, or for demonstration purposes, 

 all nursery and planting operation on Pennsyl- 

 vania State Forests shall cease until such time 

 as a complete and effective system of fire pro- 

 tection has been supplied. 



"STILL IN ITS INFANCY." 



It is quite the thing to say that the lumber 

 industry of British Columbia is still in its in- 

 fancy. But, as with all oft-repeated statements, 

 this truth is not generally and fully appreciated. 

 It sounds pleasant, and we hope it is all right. 

 It may. perhaps, be brought out by considering 

 the extent to which the industry has been de- 

 veloped in Sweden. That country has an area 

 of 173,000 square miles- about half that of the 

 Province of British Columbia — yet its forest 

 yield is three times as great as the combined cut 

 of the states of Washington and Oregon, and 

 one-third of that of the entire United States. — 

 Western Lumberman. 



