500 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



November 



THE CANADIAN FOREST PROBLEM. 



There can be little doubt that the 

 most important problem before any 

 Canadian forest administration is that 

 of translating the facts of these intro- 

 ductory observations into everyday 

 business practice. The solution of the 

 problem will be reached when a sys- 

 tem of sale of public timber is evolved 

 and made effective by which the State 

 and the lumbermen become partners 

 with mutual profit in the work of re- 

 newing the forest by the act of log- 

 ging the mature trees. 



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. This be- 

 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 events. If 

 the State offers its timber for sale 

 under conditions which put a premium 

 on forest destruction, the forests will 

 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 timber is to be found 

 in the fact that the provisions of the 

 agreements entered into by the prov- 

 inces as sellers and the lumbermen as 

 purchasers place a premium on de- 

 structive lumbering. In other words, 

 the terms of sale which have found 

 general acceptance make it to be in 

 the financial interest of the operators 

 to despoil rather than to conserve the 

 forests. 



It is my purpose in this paper to 

 discuss two or three salient features, 

 and at least one notable omission in 

 these agreements, with special refer- 

 ence to their influence on the character 

 of the logging which they authorize,, 

 and should, but do not, control. 



THREE AXIOMS. 



Before entering upon what may 

 prove to be controversial ground, it 

 seems fitting to state three proposi- 

 tions which I think will be accepted 

 as axiomatic for Canadian conditions. 

 These may later serve as landmarks 

 when weighing the pros and cons of 

 individual propositions. 



i. The main object of all forest 

 management should be to insure the 

 permanency of the lumbering and 

 other wood-working industries by pro- 

 viding a permanent supply of logs r 

 which is their raw material. Incident- 

 ally, or at least secondarily, forest 

 management aims to regulate the flow 

 of streams, to secure a revenue, to 

 ameliorate climatic conditions and to 

 provide a playground for the people. 



2. Wherever forests naturally flour- 

 ish they may be perpetuated and im- 

 proved by conservative lumbering.. 

 The white pine and the Douglas fir 

 are among the best trees in the world 

 for this purpose. 



3. If the forests are to be saved, it 

 must be with the sympathetic coopera- 

 tion of the men who cut the trees. 

 Nor is this at all a matter of regret, 

 for no class of citizens are more vitally 

 interested in the perpetuation of the 

 forests or would do more to that endi 

 than the lumbermen. 



