40 ANNUAL REPORT OF 



It is very important that trails should be opened and regular 

 circuits established for the convenience of rangers in patroling 

 the forest during dry seasons. 



SETTLERS. 



There are practically no settlers in the vicinity of the Reserve. 

 The soil does not invite permanent settlement, and the home- 

 steaders who formerly located in these townships went elsewhere 

 to seek a living as soon as they had acquired title. 



None of the land of the Burntside Forest has ever been used 

 for agricultural or settlement purposes, notwithstanding the fact 

 that the public land survey had been extended to these townships 

 about 15 years ago. The lands were considered by cruisers, 

 locators and land seekers to be worthless, and there was not 

 enough timber on any subdivision to induce the lumberman or 

 timber speculator to take any interest whatever in them. The 

 tracts selected for forestry purposes were what had been left 

 untaken after a dozen years or more had given the public an 

 opportunity to pick out everything that appealed to the individual 

 as of value. But these lands are valuable they are very valu- 

 able for the purpose for which they were selected. These rocky 

 hills and shores, these boulder-bestrewn valleys and swamps, 

 these sandy wastes are capable, under careful management, of 

 producing a profitable growth of timber. Some of these lands 

 had grown a valuable crop of pine only to have it destroyed by 

 fire ; some of them are growing up now with a healthy stand of 

 young trees ; and neighboring tracts of similar character and 

 similarly situated are covered with a dense forest of white and 

 red pines. The forester will take these lands which no farmer 

 would ever dream of cultivating, and plant young seedlings in the 

 crevices of the rock, among the boulders, in the sands and in the 

 swamps, and by constant oversight and care rear them to a 

 magnificent timber dimension. 



THE FOREST. 



In the Burntside Forest as it stands we may distinguish one 

 main type with the Jack Pine as the characteristic tree. In a 

 minor sense there are several types the Old Forest, Red Pine, 

 White Pine, 35 Year Jack Pine, 10 Year Jack Pine, Spruce 



