To Increase Agricultural Prosperity. 



Thus one object of the reconnaissance survey was to in- 

 crease the prosperity of agriculture in Canada by withdraw- 

 ing unsuitable lands from settlement and another was to pro- 

 tect the timber supply and, in direct consequence of this, to 

 maintain a stable flow in the watercourses, by placing abso- 

 lute forest lands and stands of timber in forest reserves where 

 they would be protected from fire and trespass. 



Policy of the Dominion Government. 



The policy of the dominion government was that lands 

 which were unsuited to agriculture but were important water- 

 sheds, or valuable to the adjacent community or the country 

 as a whole on account of their timber resources, should be in- 

 cluded in forest reserves for the purpose of ensuring regula- 

 tion of stream flow and a perpetual supply of timber. 



There were two kinds of forest reserves in the West, those 

 in well populated districts and those in rough mountainous 

 districts, or the unsettled and unsurveyed regions north of 

 the prairies. The reserves in populated districts consisted of 

 sandy, more or less timbered, hilly country, surrounded by 

 settled agricultural land. Such districts were comparatively 

 few and it was important that land of this character be de- 

 voted to the growing of timber to relieve the need for fire- 

 wood, fence posts, and small building timber, which was al- 

 ways felt in the treeless prairies. 



Dispel Wrong Ideas. 



Mr. Wallin pointed to the duty of the officer in charge, of 

 the survey to acquaint himself with the views held by settlers 

 in the vicinity of the proposed reservation. He should ex- 

 plain that the creation of the reserve meant the protection of 

 timber, grazing and water supply for the farmer himself. The 

 erroneous idea that the object of a forest reserve was to pre- 

 vent the "poor man" getting his supply of fuel and timber 

 should be dispelled. 



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