338 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 





Photo by E. A. Sterling. 



Now TIMBER SOON TO BE PAPER. 



A NINETY-FOOT HEMLOCK STICK ON ITS START THROUGH THE POWELL RIVER PULP AND PAPER MILL WHERE IT WILL 



BE CONVERTED INTO PAPER IN ROLLS FIFTEEN FEET WIDE. 



vancing civilization from the new China 

 and other countries of the Orient to the 

 settlers of the Canadian West. Senti- 

 ment, however, will play little part and 

 the greatest regret of foresters and lum- 

 bermen will be that the utilization can- 

 not be more complete. It is inevitable, 

 since the consumers demand only the 

 best at the lowest price, that the pro- 

 ducers can manufacture and market 

 only the material on which there is a 

 profit. On the British Columbia coast 

 this means that the smaller and poorer 

 timber is not used, and the lumbering 

 methods are apparently wasteful while 

 in reality that is only in keeping with 

 economic conditions. 



The forested coast district of West- 

 ern British Columbia presents condi- 

 tions in the way of land ownership and 

 lumbering methods which practically 

 preclude any possibility of long time 

 forest management by private owners. 

 There are essentially three separate di- 

 visions of the lumber business into 

 stumpage ownership and logging, manu- 

 facturing by sawmills, and the sale of 

 lumber. In British Columbia the title 



to most of the forest land is vested in 

 the Government, the exceptions being 

 certain grants which include both land 

 and timber. Since forestry practice is 

 absolutely contingent on the ownership 

 of the land, it follows that the responsi- 

 bility for the future forest production 

 in the region rests with the Government. 

 The individual or corporation acquires 

 title to stumpage through timber licenses 

 and the payment of an annual license 

 fee. The stumpage owner may or may 

 not be the logger, although the two, ex- 

 cept in case of stumpage investment, 

 usually go together. The manufacturer 

 or sawmill man may have no interest 

 whatever in the stumpage or the log- 

 ging, and, in turn, may shunt the sales 

 end of the business to separate organiza- 

 tions, although naturally the larger saw- 

 mill concerns have their own sales or- 

 ganization, and in some cases own 

 stumpage. The essential point, how- 

 ever, is that the Government is the land 

 owner, and, as such, has a tremendous 

 responsibility in the development of a 

 policy and practice which will eventu- 

 ally devote these lands to their best use 



