266 



Canadian Forestry Journal, June, 1919 



In working the forests, almost everything 

 would seem to be in favor of the logger, con- 

 ditions being aalmost ideal. Heavy stands are 

 found over great areas absolutely level, and 

 between ten and twenty thousand feet can be 

 cut to the acre. Commercial diameters run be- 

 tween 2 feet and 3 feet, and the lear lengths 

 to 50 feet or more. The total height of an 

 average tree is well over 100 feet. In regard 



to transportation, navigable rivers and streams 

 reach nearly every part of the forest, and short 

 hauls to floatable water are the rule. While 

 much of the timber will float, it would probably 

 be found more practicable and profitable to con- 

 struct complete working plants close to the for- 

 ests, dispose of low-grade products near at hand, 

 and ship only the more or less finished products 

 to the world's markets. 



DO TREES IMPROVE GRAZING ? 



The Journal of Forestry has summarized a 

 series of interesting observations carried on in 

 Russia over a period of 25 years to determine 

 the effect of trees upon the grazing value of land 

 which formerly carried forest. An area of 1 10 

 acres was divided into 18 portions, some of 

 which were kept bare of trees, while others were 

 sown with grass and trees retained. The trees 

 were deciduous, being birch and alder, the for- 

 mer a surface-rooting and the latter a deep- 

 rooting species. 



The observations showed finally that in two or 

 three periods of great drought the value of the 

 treeless lands fell off by from 12 to 50 per cent, 

 while that of the grass land with trees increased 

 to 1 6 per cent. In rainy years also the treeless 

 grass lands were inferior. For the first 1 2 years 

 the treeless areas carried the best grass, but 



then their value suddenly depreciated and the 

 clovers began to disappear, until after the lapse 

 of 25 years the areas took on the aspect of 

 moorland on which tillage, manuring, and sow- 

 ing failed to make a permanent improvement. 



On the areas planted with birch trees the 

 grass continued to improve until about the 

 twentieth year, when the meeting of the crowns 

 and roots caused the grass yield to decline rap- 

 idly. It recovered rapidly, however, when the 

 older trees were removed and a new crop 

 planted. Under deep-rooting alders no deter- 

 ioration was observed, the grass coming close 

 up to the trunks without reduction in height or 

 change in color. It is stated also that the bene- 

 ficial effects of trees are to be expected not in 

 wet but in dry climates. 



WAPITI SAVED FROM EXTERMINATION 



A recent act of the Saskatchewan Legislature 

 has established an indefinite close season for 

 the elk or wapiti. This animal is now per- 

 manently protected throughout its entire range 

 in Canada. This result has been achieved by 

 the continued activities of an ever increasirig 

 circle of persons who take a keen interest in 

 the conservation of our wild life. Various 

 conferences of those Interested have been held 

 from time to time and their recommendations 

 have been gradually adopted by the various 

 provincial legislatures. Moreover, these con- 

 ferences have done much to arouse and Increase 

 public Interest. , 



The elk or wapiti, one of the largest of North 

 American fauna, once ranged nearly the entire 

 continent in incredibly large numbers, but has 

 now become so greatly reduced that to-day a 



few scattered bands along the Rockies between 

 Colorado and the Brazeau river and some iso- 

 lated herds in the forests of northern Manitoba 

 and Saskatchewan comprise the entire wild elk 

 left in North America. 



Although now almost exclusively found in 

 forests, the wapiti, which was originally an 

 animal of the open plains and park-like regions, 

 is unable to subsist on browse alone and is 

 dependent, therefore, upon grass and weed 

 range for its food supply. This peculiarity in- 

 troduces an important element into the problem 

 of its conservation, as the animal is obliged to 

 expose itself more to the hunter than those 

 species which never need to come out into- the 

 open. Consequently, only very drastic measures 

 taken at once will save the wapiti from ex- 

 tinction. 



