268 



Canadian Forestry journal, June, 19/9 



to come from a greatly decreased forest area, 

 as over 1,230,000 acres of forest land was in 

 the territory occupied by the Germans. The loss 

 of the acreage of forest land meant an annual 

 loss to France of approximately 17,500,000 

 cubic feet of saw log timber last year. It is 

 estimated that the drain upon the French for- 

 ests in the past three years in the way of timber 

 is equivalent to the growth of twenty years. In 

 other words, the growth of the next twenty years 

 of the French forests has already been used. 



It is probable that there was a heavy drain 

 upon German forest areas throughout the period 

 of the war, but the German policy has always 

 been to make occupied territories pay the cost 

 of war in every way. It is known that the 

 Scandinavian peninsula and Russia were drawn 

 upon by Germany for vast amounts of timber in 

 the carrying on of her war activities. Even 

 Spain and Portugal, which before the war were 

 the least densely timbered countries in Europe — 

 Portugal having but 3J/2 per cent of her area in 

 forests — were badly over-cut. It has been re- 

 ported that the demand for timber was so great 

 in Spain, of course for export to Allied coun- 

 tries, that even cord oak trees were cut down 

 in numbers. It became necessary in countries 

 of Northern Africa, in Greece, and elsewhere to 

 pass rules forbidding the cutting down of olive 

 trees. 



Russia Out of Action. 



It may be said, therefore, that outside of 

 Russia and the Scandinavian peninsula Europ- 

 ean forest industries are so exhausted that years 

 will be necessary to bring them back to the 

 pre-war conditions. Russia, in her demoralized 

 and disorganized condition, will probably not 

 be able to regain in any large way the European 

 markets for her timber for a decade at least. 

 It is probable that Russia could pay much of 

 her war debt through the utiHzation of her for- 

 ests could she organize hre Government and her 

 railways. 



Forestry is Growth Plus — 



A hundred years of forestry in Europe have 

 shown that nothing is to be gained by confus- 

 ing it with engineering or agriculture or any 

 other equally definite line of work. Forestry is 

 defined as not alone the production of a crop of 

 trees — and this phase has been the one empha- 

 sized in this country too long— but as the har- 

 vesting of the forest crop and its ultimate utiliza- 

 tion. It means the production and propagation 

 of the animal life of the forest and forest waters, 

 and finally it means the marketing of the pro- 

 include certain recreational developments in the 



duct. In the last decade forestry has come to 

 forestry of this country, as evidenced by the 

 recentrecent activities of the Uniter States For- 

 est Service in the development of recreational 

 possibilities of the national forests. 



Not until foresters throughout the country 

 look our forestry problems squarely in the face 

 and define what we are attempting to do in a 

 fair way will we be able to achieve what is ex- 

 pected of us in these years of reconstruction. 

 Naturally a developing profession such as ours 

 must go through a period of uncertainty of de- 

 finition and be hindered by attempts to . call 

 things what they are not. Any one who is at all 

 familiar with the development of medicine in 

 this country will understand thoroughly the 

 many difficulties and delays which have resulted 

 from lack of clear understanding in the de- 

 fining of the boundaries of the science and the 

 practice of medicine. 



This is a time when those of us concerned in 

 the development of forestry should have vision 

 not only in defining forestry but in appreciating 

 its relation to every phase of our national life. 

 The period when production — or silviculture — 

 was the all-important phase of forestry has 

 passed in this country and we are being con- 

 ceded, though begrudgingly by some, that the 

 utilization of the forest with all it means is a 

 part of forestry. The field of utilization offers 

 tremendous possibilities in the way of research 

 and in the way of making the results of research 

 of a very definite practical value to every lumber 

 user. 



Wild Life Included. 

 Again, it is becoming understood gradually 

 tha tforestry should include the production and 

 propagation of the wild life of the forest and 

 forest waters. This very important phase of 

 forestry work has been bandied about from 

 place to place, settling for a time with one line 

 of work or in one kind of an institution, but 

 there is no question that long experience in 

 Europe shows that the forester is the man who 

 is most concerned with the development of the 

 animal life of forest lands and forest waters. 

 There is some attempt to include this line of 

 work as a phase of agriculture. We will con- 

 cede that agriculture is one of the great in- 

 dustries of the country and needs the loyal sup- 

 port of every citizen and every legislature, but 

 agriculture has its hands very full in develop- 

 ing to the fullest extent the agricultural lands of 

 the country with all that that means. Will you 

 agree, then, that forestry is a land problem, a 

 water problem, a raw products problem, a food 



