1()0 CAXADIAX FORWTIfY 



THE FOREST AS A NATIONAL RESOURCE. 



JUDSON F. CLARK, Ph. D., 

 Forester of the Province of Ontario. 



The resources of any nation are the natural resources of the country occupied, 

 together with what population and capital it may have or may be able to attract. 

 Population and capital may increase or decrease, may be imported or exported, but 

 the natural resources are a limited quantity not capable of being increased, though. 

 through mismanagement they may be decreased and even destroyed. 



Countries having great natural resources are certain, sooner or later, to become 

 great and prosperous, for there is ever a surplus of capital and labour seeking oppor- 

 tunity for profitable employment in the development and utilization of natural re- 

 source wherever it may be found. 



The natural resources of a country are its climate, its soil, its minerals and its 

 fisheries. The climate and soil together furnish the conditions for its agriculture and 

 its forests. The agriculture is chiefly concerned with problems of food and clothing, 

 the forest with the problems of wood and water. 



The forest may be regarded as a national resource as the source of supply of 

 several raw materials which are altogether, or all but altogether, necessary for modern 

 modes of living. Chief among these materials is wood. Second only to its import- 

 ance as a producer of wood is the function of the forest in regulating the flow of the 

 streams to prevent on the one hand such calamities as floods, erosion, and silting, and 

 on the other to conserve the water for domestic use,, irrigation, power, and navigation. 

 The forest is also a national resource in its beneficent effect on climate; in providing 

 an ideal playground for all the. people; and as a field for the employment of capital 

 and labour, in which respect it is second only to agriculture. 



In a new country containing apparently inexhaustible forests abounding with 

 streams having a sustained and regular flow, it Is perfectly natural that the produc- 

 tion of wood and the conservation of water should at first demand but a minor con- 

 sideration, if indeed they be considered at all, while practically the whole attention 

 and effort of the people and government will be directed to the development of the 

 agriculture, mining, manufacturing and lumbering industries and to transportation 

 problems. 



In common with other heavily wooded countries, this has been the history of 

 Canada. As the natural supplies of wood become more and more limited, and the 

 effects of deforestation more and more evident in the irregularity of stream flow and 

 in other ways, the problems of forest and water conservation demand ever increasing 

 interest and attention, and we may hope that the place of the forest as a national 

 resource of first mai?nitude will be finally fully appreciated. May that day come 

 before irreparable injury is done to the forest lands of Canada! 



The most obvious and perhaps the most important function served by a forest is 

 that of supplying raw materials for the industries of a nation. Wood is of course the 

 chief material produced, though bark for tanning, turpentine and allied products, and 

 even sugar are all products of much importance. 



I has ever played a most important part in the history of civilization. In- 



ization without wood is almost inconceivable. Dr. Fernow has well said that 



it su i us either as a convenience or a necessity from the cradle to the grave. 



a rocked 'n wooden cradles, we play with wooden toys, we sit on wooden chairs 



from wooden tables; we are instructed by reading wooden books, printed with 



od, entertained by wooden musical instruments, and at last are laid 



i a wooden box. In mining, manufacturing and transportation wood is used 



