Canadian Forestry Journal, April, iq20. 



^7Z 



square miles of forest capable of pro- 

 ducing- saw logs, trees at least 12 

 inches in diameter, or territory 

 equivalent to about one-eighth the 

 total land area of Canada. As you 

 know, this area occurs in two great 

 blocks at the two extremes of the 

 country, one in the east, the other in 

 the west, and they are about th^ same 

 size, namely 200,000 square miles 

 each. 



The West as a Future Supply. 



In considering the present condi- 

 tion of these saw log bearing areas, 

 let us begin in the West. The Com- 

 mission of Conservation at Ottawa 

 has recently completed a survey of 

 British Columbia's forest resources. 

 It was found among other things that 

 the timber on two-thirds of the for- 

 ested area has been destroyed by fire. 

 The loss by fire in British Columbia 

 alone is nearly equivalent to the esti- 

 mated amount now standing in the 

 entire Dominion. Yet in spite of this 

 great destruction, British Columbia 

 has today sufficient timber to last 

 her nearly 300 years at her present 

 rate of consumption. If it were ac- 

 cessible the supply of the whole Do- 

 minion at its present production could 

 come from British Columlna for the 

 next 70 years. In addition to this 

 British Columbia is estimated to con- 

 tain sufficient pulpwood material t(~) 

 furnish the present annual output of 

 the Dominion for more than 50 years. 

 The West may be our savior in tim- 

 ber supplies. Such su])])lics arc a 

 Iting distance away; the transporta- 

 tion charges will be high. It may 

 be, however, that the public in the 

 eastern provinces will pay such heavy 

 charges in preference to being bother- 

 ed with the care of their forests at 

 h(inic. If \vc should, in the future. 

 (Irrtw heavily on Avestern sui)i)lics. we 

 should always remember that a small 

 ]>ortion of the freight charge on each 

 thousand feet of luml)cr from r.rilish 

 Columbia reinvested to promote new 

 growth in the forests at our doors 

 would have rendered tlieni ciMitinu- 

 ouslv productive of saw logs tor all 

 time. 



What of the Prairie Provinces? 



Coming- eastward, we find that the 

 forest resources of Alberta have not 

 been determined. We do know, how- 

 ever, that around three-fourths of the 

 entire east slope of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains has been burned within the past 

 50 years, thus so far as relative area 

 is concerned the saw log producing 

 forests are limited. The young- 

 growth, however, is reported to be 

 coming on vigorously, and it is a 

 valuable asset. In crossing the re- 

 gion north of the prairies in Sas- 

 katchewan and Alanitoba, we would 

 find less than one per cent, of the 

 trees larger than eight inches in dia- 

 meter — partly due to fires and partly 

 due to climatic and soil conditions. 

 We usually do not tliink of timber 

 in connection with the prairie pro- 

 vinces, yet Saskatchewan cut nearly 

 90 million feet of boards, IManitob'a 

 over 50 million, and Alberta more 

 than 33 million feet in 1917. 



I trust I shall offend no one when 

 I say that we have no very reliable 

 estimates of the quantities of com- 

 mercial timber in Ontario, although 

 there have been many guesses. These 

 guesses are based on the estimated 

 forest area and the estimated yield 

 per acre. They can be made in any 

 office with the aid of a may and pen- 

 cil. Ontario has about 10,000,000 

 acres under timber license and prac- 

 tically the same area in pulpwood 

 concessions. The province also holds 

 about seven million acres in forest re- 

 serves. A guess of the standing pine. 

 Ontario's principal lumber jiroiluct. 

 made ten years ago, was equivalent 

 to forty years' sujiply at the then 

 rate of cutting. Statistics of produc- 

 tion show that the output of wliite 

 pine has decreased by more than one- 

 third in the iiast twenty years. This 

 means that the cut is 400.000.000 feet 

 less than at that time. .\t $200 per 

 thousand royalty, it also mcan>^ a ilc- 

 crease in rexenue fn^n pine o\ $^00,- 

 000 in the past twenty year.s Taken 

 at their apjiarent value, the statistics 

 (^f ]>r(nincia1 re\enues, however, show 

 no decrease. ]>ut if one examines the 



