Canadian Forestry Journal, February, J 920 



THE YEAR'S ST ORY OF O UR ASSOCIATION 



(Constituting the Directors Report for 1919) 



Membership Has Reached 10,000, and 

 Forms of Educational Activity Have 

 Met With Success. 



All 



On the eve of our twentieth birthday, January 

 15th, 1920, it is interesting to recall one or two 

 facts surrounding the Association's birth on 

 January 15th, 1900. 



The preliminary steps towards the formation 

 of the Canadian Forestry Association were taken 

 by Mr. E. Stewart, then Chief Inspector of For- 

 estry and Timber for the Dominion (now of 

 Toronto), who sent out a circular letter on 

 January 8th, 1900, to a number of men inter- 

 ested in the subject of forestry, asking them to 

 meet at his office on the 15th of that month. At 

 that meeting were present: Sir Henri Joly de 

 Lotbiniere ; Mr. Saunders; Mr. William Little; 

 Mr. Thos. Southworth, Director of Forestry for 

 Ontario; Mr. E. Stewart; Prof. John Macoun, 

 Assistant Director of the Geological Survey; 

 Mr. Little was elected Chairman, and Mr. 

 Stewart, Secretary. 



On March 7th, 1901, the membership was 

 244 and the total receipts $192.45. 



We have had in 1919 three chief campaigns 

 to improve forest laws and administration, keep- 

 ing in view always the sane balance that must 

 be maintained between public regulations and 

 the economic status of the wood-using industries. 



In some parts of Canada, the absence of any 

 real government machinery to carry out the 

 public responsibility in forest conservation pro- 

 vided opportunities for constructive work along 

 educational lines. 



A good deal of time and effort have been ex- 

 pended upon Nova Scotia. The interest of the 

 government in our proposals for the appoint- 

 ment of a Provincial Forester and the com- 

 mencement of a Forest Service seemed to fluctu- 

 ate considerably in the past two years, during 

 which we have addressed ourselves to the situa- 

 tion in that province. This necessitated several 

 brief campaigns to revive public pressure. Re- 

 sults, however, have recently been in evidence. 

 The Provincial Government has offered the pos- 

 ition of Provincial Forester to a well-qualified 



Canadian, and it is the Association's belief that 

 this will lead to the reformation of Nova 

 Scotia's fire protection system and the spread 

 of forestry principles and practices amongst the 

 Nova Scotia limit-holders who own the great 

 bulk of the forest areas. 



THE DOMINION CA.MPAIGN 



In the Dominion field the .Association's effort 

 to extend technical forestry supervision over the 

 licensed timber berths in the three prairie pro- 

 vinces and the railway belt of British Columbia, 

 as set forth in the last Directors' Report duly 

 passed at the last annual meeting, met with 

 strenuous opposition on the part of the Minister 

 of the Interior, who finally suspended our annual 

 grant from the Dominion Treasury. Every 

 effort has been made towards securing a modifi- 

 cation of the Minister's decision. It may be 

 pointed out that the Association's attitude re- 

 garding the licensed timber berths on Dominion 

 lands has been one of the cardinal points, not 

 only in our own educational propaganda for 

 many years past, but in the programme of the 

 Commission of Conservation. \^'e have asked 

 only that the Department of the Interior apply 

 forestry supervision to the timber berths within 

 the reserve boundaries, just as it has for years 

 with respect to the unHcensed lands within the 

 reserves. The Association was governed wholly 

 by considerations of public welfare and feels 

 confident that its case will be overwhelmingly 

 supported by the people of Western Canada who 

 are most directly concerned, and whose inter- 

 ests are our primary consideration. It will be 

 the .Association's duly to continue to prosecute 

 forestry propaganda in the Prairie Provinces 

 to the utmost of its power. 



The campaigns for reforms of forest adminis- 

 tration in Ontario. Nova Scotia, and on Domin- 

 ion lands, can be regarded, as in previous years, 

 as the main task of the .Association. The reform 

 of (he forest protection system of Ontario, the 

 inauguration of a Forest Service in New Bruns- 

 wick, the securing of fire legislation \n the 



