500 



FORESTRY AND [RRIGATIOH 



November 





i in, ( \N.\1M \x FOREST PROBLEM. 



There can be little doubt that 

 most important problem before any 

 Canadian forest administration is that 

 of translating the tarts of these intro- 

 ductory observations into everyday 

 business practice. The solution 

 problem will be reached when a 

 tern of sale of public timber is evoh 

 and made effective by which the State 

 and the lumbermen become partners 

 with mutual profit in the work - I 

 newing the forest by the act oi 

 ging the mature tn 

 THE IMPORTANCE OF SELLING RIGHT. 



Lumbering is very much like any 

 other business in that it is conducted 

 for what profit may be made by the 

 operators, and rightly so. Tins i 

 ing the case, it is evident that the na- 

 ture of the agreement entered into by 

 the State as the seller of the timber 

 and the lumberman purchaser will 

 have very much to do in determining 

 the subsequent course of evenl 

 the State offers its timber for sale 

 under conditions which put a premium 

 on forest destruction, the foi vill 



surely be destroyed, all kinds of for- 

 estry propaganda to the contrary not- 

 withstanding. If, on the other hand, 

 the terms of sale put a premium on 

 forest conservation, there is no reason 

 why the forests should not be con- 

 served as a purely business proposi- 

 tion. 



Present lumbering methods are de- 

 vastating the Canadian forests. Why 

 is this? Lumbering is the business of 

 removing the mature timber, and this 

 should improve the forest. It has done 

 so elsewhere for centuries. Not in 

 Europe and Asia alone, but in many 

 places in North America. Why does 

 it not do so on the Canadian timber 

 limits? There are, indeed, isolated ex- 

 amples of improvement by lumbering 

 even here which show the possibilities, 

 but the exceptions to the rule but 

 emphasize the failure of the present 

 policy as a whole. 



It is my belief that the fatal weak- 

 ness of the present system of dispos- 



ing of provincial timl be found 

 in the fact that the of the 

 agreements entered it the prov- 

 lers and tl imbermen as 

 purchasers place a m on de- 

 structive lumbering rds, 

 the term- id 

 ral acceptant > be in 

 the financial in1 perators 

 despoil rather thai .e the 



It is m\ purp< - to 



discuss or tin eatun 



and al ""< nota si >n in 



thi r_ 



ence to their influeri haracter 



ing which luthoriz 



and should, but d< i n< ii ntr 



HREE a\ I 



Before entering vhat may 



prove to be contr nd, it 



- fitting to stat 

 tions which I think ej I 



axiomatic for Cana ns. 



These may later s< i indmarks . 



when weighing the p I cons of 



individual prop< 



i. The main obj< est 



management should I nsure the 



permanency of the luibering and 

 other wood-working inn pro- 



viding a permanent I logs r 



which is their raw ma Incident- 



ally, or at lei Yi Ior ' 



management aims the flow 



ms, to secur< venue, to 



ite climatic condions and to 

 vide a playground fothe people. 



2. Wherever forests r.cu rally flour- 

 ish they may be per] I and im- 



d by conservati 'inhering. 

 The white pine and >uglas fir 



are among the best tre< i the world 

 for this purpose. 



3. If the forests are 1 be saved, it 

 must be with the sympatr tic coopera- 

 tion of the men who Qt the trees. 

 Xor is this at all a mattr of regret, 

 for no class of citizens ; e vitally 

 interested in the perpetv.don of the 

 forests or would do mo: 3 that end 

 than the lumbermen. 



