1921-22 



DEPARTMENT OF LANDS AND FORESTS 



219 



the total forested area is then in a semi-barren condition, supporting, in the 

 main, poplar-birch degenerates with an occasional fire-scarred pine. 



Of the total area, barrens occupy 10.9 per cent., or 790,092 acres, a pitiful 

 representation of the original pinery. This condition is most pronounced in 

 the Madawaska and Georgian Bay sectors. 



Cleared land comprises 9.9 per cent., or 712,989 acres. Of this, the settled 

 district south of Algonquin Park, represents 76.9 per cent. ; Ottawa Valley and 

 Parry Sound, together, 21.3; while, in Algonquin Park and Georgian Bay, we 

 find only 1.8 per cent. From the nature of the country, the presence of so many 

 abandoned farms, and the general appreciation of most of this sector as a crop- 

 producing area, it is not likely that the present percentage of cleared land will 

 increase. 



Summary. — A study of these pages reveals the fact that, as a result of 

 logging operations and repeated fires, over 60 per cent, of the original forest 

 — which was of a mixed or coniferous character — is now occupied by less desir- 

 able types, and instead of the former pineries, occupying one-half the area, 

 we find only 3.1 per cent, thus occupied, pine having been superseded by poplar- 

 birch and barrens on the remaining areas. 



In summing up, the conditions over the whole area, excluding cleared 

 land, are shown in the following table. 



TABLE SHOWING BY PERCENTAGES THE RELATIONSHIP OF CONDITIONS 

 ON THE POTENTIAL FOREST AREA. 



Condition. 



District. 



A. O. R. Ma. M. P.S. Totals 



Vigin and moderately culled 



Severely culled 



Second growth 



Young growth 



Barrens 



44.2 

 6.2 



35.3 

 8.3 

 6.0 



5.2 



4.4 



38.4 



40.6 



11.4 



11.3 

 9.4 

 16.6 

 40.8 

 21.9 



13.9 

 10.0 

 19.4 

 46.7 

 10.0 



65.5 

 2.9 

 1.4 



30.2 

 0.0 



28.7 

 20.3 

 18.4 

 20.0 

 12.6 



A. — Algonquin Park; R. — Renfrew; Ma. — Madawaska; M. 

 P.S.— Parry Sound; O.— Ottawa Valley. 



-Muskoka; 



23.3 

 9.3 

 24.6 

 30.7 

 12.1 



In the above table, the potential forest land is classified as follows: Tim- 

 ber, i.e., virgin and moderately culled areas, 23.3 per cent.; cordwood and 

 distillation material or severely culled areas, 9.3 per cent.; second growth, 

 24.6 per cent.; young growth, 30.7 per cent.; and barrens, 12.1 per cent. 



From this we can see the varied character of the relationship of the forest 

 conditions in the various districts, for example, in Algonquin Park, we find 

 44.2 per cent, timber, 35.3 per cent, second growth, with only 8.3 per cent, 

 young growth; while in the Madawaska, only 13.9 per cent, timber land re- 

 mains, second growth occupying 19.4 per cent., with young growth representing 

 almost 50 per cent, of the area. It also shows, in the case of Muskoka district, 

 practically no intermediate or second growth. 



The outstanding feature of the present condition of these 6,500,000 acres. 

 as a whole, is the undesirable transformation by the agency of fire after logging, 

 The three types — poplar-birch with coniferous reproduction, the poplar-birch 

 without, and the barrens — represent, in general, logged-over areas burned an 



