EDITORIAL 



THE SUPPLY OF PULPWOOD 



/^UR neighbors to the north have quite a sizeable 

 ^-^ woodpile left according to recent estimates of the 

 Canadian Commission of Conservation ; yet the talk of a 

 shortage goes merrily on. Nothing is inexhaustible 

 which is not continually renewed at least as fast as it is 

 used, so some day there must come an end to the virgin 

 pulpwood timber as there has to Michigan white pine. 

 But if the figures are correct our newspapers need not 

 be printed on fibre from grass or bamboos or carved 

 on stone tablets for some time to come. 



The Conservation Commission's estimate of actually 

 available pulpwood in the eastern provinces is 306,000,- 

 000 cords, while accessible and inaccessible is placed at 

 501,000,000 cords. In the whole Dominion the most re- 

 cent estimate is 901,000,000 cords. The divisor for this 

 is five million cords, representing annual consumption, 

 including the 35 per cent exported to the States. This 

 gives a sixty years' supply of available wood for the 

 East and one hundred and eighty years for all Canada 

 if all is ultimately used. Even allowing for increased 

 consumption and fire loss, and assuming that our Ca- 

 nadian friends will continue to share the product of 

 crown (freehold) lands with us, there is enough to main- 

 tain a healthy balance of trade and feed their own paper 

 machines for probably half a century. 



In the meantime, what? Will effective forestry be es- 

 tablished by then and the fire menace curbed, or will the 

 supply be ruined and burned and come to an end? As 

 for the United States, will the Underwood Commission 

 have functioned futilely and its report filed and forgotten, 

 or will be getting wood from the licensed provincial 

 limits from which export is now prohibited? Perhaps 

 the reverse will happen and an embargo or export duty 

 placed on the raw material from Crown lands, as is so 

 ardently desired by a few Canadians. If this happens our 

 own fast growing resources of southern pine, particu- 

 larly loblolly, may come into their own more promptly 

 and processes perfected for the conversion and bleach- 

 ing of yellow pulp. Should this happen, Canada might 

 find herself with an over abundance of pulpwood timber 

 wealth. In 1920 we paid Canada the neat little sum of 

 ,$191,000,000 for pulp, pulpwood and paper. 



All agree that a timber census is essential for the for- 

 mulating of wise plans and policies, but unless the knowl- 



edge is more complete and detailed than any yet at hand, 

 many inconsistencies and uncertain or variable factors 

 remain. In considering the supply of standing pulpwood* 

 timber the arch forest enemies of fire and insects must 

 be reckoned with. Neither is under control. On one 

 large tract in Quebec fire in May and June this year 

 killed the timber on over forty per cent of the area, and 

 its damage and extent was greatly increased by the dead 

 balsam killed previously by the bud worm. In the re- 

 mote north country most fires are caused by lightning, 

 and if thirty mile belts have been fire swept in the past 

 they are likely to be in the future despite all human pre- 

 cautions. 



If figures do not lie, Canada has pulpwood for several 

 generations, so why worry? The general opinion is, how- 

 ever, that somebody should worry and that di^^iding the 

 apparent supply by the consumption does not give the 

 right result. It is said that there is not a well timbered 

 and otherwise desirable pulpwood tract (>f.=large size 

 available for purchase on or directly tributary to the St. 

 Lawrence River. If true, it means that a large part of 

 the available one hundred and fifty-five million cords 

 in Quebec is held by strong owners as a long time sup- 

 ply for their own mills, and that the new field, whether 

 Government limits or private, is back in the region 

 of long drives and low stand per acre. And the same 

 statistics show that only eighteen per cent in Ontario and 

 fourteen per cent in Quebec is privately owned, which 

 means that most of this great pulpwood domain has not 

 been considered good enough or accessible enough to 

 be taken ove rby private owners. Accessibility and 

 ownership, therefore, become potent factors. 



Despite the interesting estimates of the Conservation 

 Commission, we come back to the glittering generality 

 that Canada has an enormous forest wealth in spruce 

 and balsam pulpwood ; that she is quite cognizant of 

 its value, both for her own industries and for export ; 

 and that the United States may get more or less of it ac- 

 cording to the political and economic developments of 

 the future. A few Canadians want to keep all of it, the 

 majority are inclined to the status quo or to reciprocal 

 arrangements for the development of trade. All would 

 like to encourage protective measures and forestry prac- 

 tice which will ultimately perpetuate the supply. _,. 



ELECTION OF OFFICERS FOR 1922 



Inasmuch as a number of changes in the by-laws of the AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION have been pro- 

 posed by a joint committee of officers of the Association and of foresters, it has been decided to ijostpone the election of 

 officers for the year 1922 until a special election date after the annual meeting in January, 1922. 'This will enable the As- 

 sociation to elect officers under the provisions of the by-laws as amended at the annual meeting in January. The proposed 

 revision of the by-laws will be published in the January, 1922, issue of American Forestry. 



