DEPARTMENT OF LANDS AND FORESTS FOR 1928 135 



There is five times as much birch as poplar. This feature is indicative of 

 the maturity of the stands, since birch is capable of maintaining itself and 

 poplar is not. 



The distribution of the balsam estimate is of interest. This section of the 

 Province has suffered extensively from the ravages of the spruce bud-worm. 

 The epidemic first received the attention of the Dominion Entomological Branch 

 in 1920 when an aerial survey was made to determine the extent of the outbreak. 

 The infested areas appear to be extending in a north and westerly direction. 

 In the Wanapitei and Montreal river drainage basins occupying fifty-five per 

 cent, of the area is twenty-eight per cent, of the balsam estimate, while the 

 Mattagami river drainage area carried seventy-two. per cent, of the balsam on 

 forty-five per cent, of the total area. 



Forest Investigation. 



(a) Loch Lomond Watershed Forest Survey.— -hoch Lomond is situated in 

 the mountainous country which stretches southwest from the city of Fort 

 William and extends into the state of Minnesota. The lake is about five miles 

 from the city and three miles west of Lake Superior. In elevation the lake lies 

 336 feet above Lake Superior and about 300 feet above the general level of the 

 city of Fort William. The area surveyed comprises the lands owned by the 

 city of Fort William in the Township of Blake, District of Thunder Bay for 

 the protection of the Loch Lomond Watershed. 



The city of Fort William obtains its. water supply from Loch Lomond 

 which has been referred to by competent authorities as the purest on the continent 

 so that any steps taken to safeguard its purity are well advised. With this in 

 view the city has acquired title to the land within the watershed and recently 

 established the boundary by a survey permanently marking the limits of the 

 lands owned by the city. 



During the past season a forest survey was made of the watershed and lands 

 adjoining owned by the city with a view of establishing and maintaining a forest 

 cover which will best preserve the purity and maintain an equalized seasonal 

 supply from the watershed. During the course of the survey the possibility of 

 obtaining revenue from the lands by the cutting of timber for commercial pur- 

 poses which would not prove detrimental to the water supply was continually 

 kept in mind. 



With this general object in view a crew of five men under the direction of a 

 forester commenced the survey on about June the first and completed the field 

 work by August the first, after which two weeks were spent examining some lands 

 lying adjacent to the watershed area. During the course of the survey all points 

 were located in reference to established points on the boundary survey. Control 

 lines were run at two-mile intervals and strips at quarter-mile intervals between 

 the control lines. On control lines elevations were taken with an Abney hand 

 level and contour lines sketched, a 20-foot contour interval was used. On the 

 strips, elevations were taken with a Paulin altimeter which was corrected for 

 variation in normal atmospheric pressure with a stationary instrument in camp. 

 On all control lines and strips a forest type map was kept and tallies of all tree 

 growth were taken by plots at 400-foot intervals along the strips. On com- 

 pletion of the work a topographic map was made showing contours (20-foot contour 

 interval), and also a forest type map dividing the area into blocks which require 

 different treatment to bring about the desired conditions. Accompanying the maps 

 is a report treating with the protection of the area from fire fnid other destructive 



