Canadian Forestry Magazine, October, ip20. 



467 



Flying Studies of Forests and Insect 



Damage 



If the Air Board of Canada can give 

 a few more demonstrations of the time- 

 economy of aircraft, such as occurred re- 

 cently between Ottawa and Haileybury, 

 Ontario, the stimulus to civil aviation 

 will be materially strengthened. 



Col. Robert Leckie, D.S.O., M.C., 

 D.lvC, Superintendent of Flying Oper- 

 ations, Air Board, Ottawa, Mr. 

 Clyde Leavitt, Chief Forester, Commis- 

 sion of Conservation, Ottawa, and Dr. 

 J. M. Swaine, Chief of Division of 

 Forest Insects, Entomological branch, 

 Dept. of Agriculture, Ottawa, comprised 

 the aerial party. 



The plane left Ottawa at ten o'clock, 

 a. Hi., following the Ottawa River to Mat- 

 tawa, thence to North Bay arriving at 

 1.15 p.m. where a stop was made for 

 dinner and a fresh supply of gasoline. 

 At 2.45 the air travellers left North Bay, 

 returning to attawa Mto follow the Otta- 

 wa River again, as far as Kippewa and 

 up Lake Temiskaming, reaching Hailey- 

 bury at 4.20 p.m. The actual flying time 

 was five hours, at an average rate of 

 65 miles per hour. The engine is a 350 

 horsepower, twelve cylinder V type, sta- 

 tionary Liberty motor, and was used by 

 the Naval Board during the war. The 

 airship carries tanks with a capacity of 

 TOO gallons of gasoline sufficient for 

 about five hours constant flying. LTer 

 rate of consumption is 28 gallons of 

 gasoline an hour. 



The party was met at Llaileybury by 

 Capt. Wickens, deputed by the Air Board 

 to operate the machine, while it is in that 

 district, and by Mr. Roland D. Craig, 

 Forest Engineer for the Commission of 

 Conservation and Major G. IT. Edge- 

 combe, who are conducting a survey of 

 the forest resources in Ontario, with tlio 

 view of finding out the present and pos- 

 sil>1e future supplies of liuil)er t'roui 

 which the pulp and lumber industries of 

 the i)rovince can be supjilied. This work 

 is under the direction of Mr. Craig, who 

 conducted similar surveys in British Col- 

 umbia. Maj(M- Edgecombe and Mr. A. 



V. Gilbert are also engaged in collecting 

 the necessary information for this sur- 

 \ ey . 



During the war the value of aircraft 

 for mapping and reconnaissance was de- 

 monstrated, and now a number of planes 

 are being used for this in forestry work 

 in Canada. 



The Air Board having been given over 

 100 machines of different types by the 

 Imperial Government, is co-operating 

 with the other Government departments 

 by supplying machines and pilots for 

 such work as mapping, forest fire pro- 

 tection, fisheries patrol and transporta- 

 tion. 



Taking advantage of this opportunity, 

 M'essrs. Craig and Edgecombe are going 

 to make reconnaissance of the forests 

 in the Temiskaming district from the 

 air, in connection with Dr. Swaine's 

 Spruce Budworm studies. 



The advance of the aerial survey is 

 tiiat it enables the observer to map in, 

 with considerable accuracy, the various 

 types, such as swamps, burns, hardwoods 

 and softwoods, in a few hours on an 

 area which could not be covered by a 

 ground survey in as many months. It 

 is not claimed that the amount of stand- 

 ing timber can be judged from the air, 

 but with the area defined, a compara- 

 tively small amount of ground work will 

 give a very satisfactory basis for a tim- 

 ber estimate. 



Dr. Swaine is studying the injury 

 caused by the outbreak of the spruce 

 budworm which is spreading into On- 

 tario pulpwood forests from Xorthern 

 Ouebec. The injury is to the balsam 

 and spruce timber, and is caused by my- 

 riads of caterpillars devouring the foil- 

 age. The injured timber turns red and 

 may be distinguished from the air. It 

 is planned to map this area, ant! the tim- 

 ber owners can then be advised of the 

 late and direction of tht spiead. so that 

 ;hey may salvage their timber in ad- 

 vance of the outbreak. 



