i66 



Caiiad'uni /■urcslry Juiinuil. .If^ril, tcj20. 



trees must be encourap^cd to replace 

 the old. Another important function 

 of the reserves is to conserve water 

 supply. Forests do this by retaininj,^ 

 the rainfall and letting- it flow oif 

 f>-radually. The t^round within a forest 

 acts as a si)on^e which ])ennits the 

 rain and melted snow to slowly fnul 

 its way to tlv creeks and streams, in- 

 stead of running off all at once, beint^- 

 wastt'd and causing- floods. 



It is the desire of the forest admin- 

 istration to develop all uses of the 

 reserves to the full. Settlers are per- 

 mitted, for a nominal fee. to take 

 timber required for their own use and 

 to graze their cattle on open areas 

 also available for camping, fishing 

 with the reserve. The reserves are 

 and other recreation purposes. 



Prohil)iting altogether the cutting 

 in a forest reserve would be very poor 

 economy. Trees are not everlasting 

 like humans they grow uj), mature, 

 and finally die. Better, therefore, to 

 use them while they can best be put 

 to use. By removing the mature trees 

 we make room for the young vigor- 

 ous trees to take their place. 



How Reserves Are Planned. 



The Dominion Forest Reserves 

 covered, approximately, 43.7=^0 square 

 miles, an area twice that of the pro- 

 vince of Nova Scotia, or over half 

 that of Manitoba, prior to iqt2. These 

 reserves lie in the three prairie pro- 

 vinces and in the railway belt of Brit- 

 ish Columbia. The Dominion Gov- 

 ernment also maintains a free patrol 

 service over many hundreds of square 

 miles of forest not yet included in 

 reservations. Before any areas are 

 included in reserves they are covered 

 by surveys by trained men, to ascer- 

 tain the character of the country from 

 a forester's point of view. A belt of 

 country from the east to the west of 

 the provinces of Manitoba, Sas- 

 katchewan and Alberta, comprising 

 in all 145,000 square miles of the 

 northern parts of these provinces has 

 been surveyed. In some respects the 

 survey has been a disappointment for 



a comparatix ely small proportion of 

 the area is found to be covered with 

 timber of any size. Much of it has 

 in the i>ast been badly damaged by 

 lire. 



.\t j)resent. and for >onie time to 

 come, the dexelopnient of the fore t 

 reserves has meant, and will mean, 

 the exfjenditure of a large amr.nnt of 

 money with only ^mall return-. l\oads 

 and trails have to be built so that the 

 ])roducts may be taken out and that 

 all parts of the reserve m-^y be ac- 

 cessible in case of fire. Houses must 

 be Iniilt for the rangers and head- 

 ] hones must be proxided to kec]) the 

 sui)er\isors in touch with tlvir men. 

 All this work requires years to carry 

 out. However, it has been the ex- 

 perience of countries -which have in- 

 troduced scientific forestry that all 

 expenditure is amply justified. 



Indeed, in the present stage, the 

 forests of A\'estern Canada are far 

 from -being a "gold mine" to the 

 Dominion Government. The Forestry 

 Branch expends annually in INTanitoba 

 venue; in Saskatchewan it spends 

 $14.5,000, and gets $q.ooo revenue : in 

 Alberta it spends $200,000, and gets 

 $18,000 revenue. 



A European Comparison. 



The area of forest reserves in the 

 prairie provinces may look large but 

 compared with most European coun- 

 tries the area of the provinces oc- 

 cupied by reserve sis small. Belgium, 

 perhaps the most thoroughly cuti- 

 vated country in the world, has near- 

 ly one-fifth of its area in permanent 

 forests. France has about the same 

 proportion. Compare this with Sas- 

 katchewan's five per cent., Manitoba's 

 1.66 per cent., and Alberta's 10 per 

 cent. Even British India, one of the 

 most densely populated countries in 

 the world, where forestry has been 

 practiced for half a century, has 

 about one-seventh of its area in for- 

 ests. 



The returns per acre from manag- 

 ed forests are much greater than from 



