Page 109 Division of Research 



refrigeration rooms, and a number of offices. The Division of Fish and Wildlife has a 

 large laboratory and a number of offices and other rooms. A lunch room, a carpentry 

 shop and several other work shops occupy the balance of the space. 



Reference Xo. 4: The greenhouse is used entirely for tree breeding and silvicultural 

 research. 



Reference Xo. 5: This building was originally a research garage and chemical labora- 

 tory but is now wholly used as net and boat storage space by the Division of Fish and 

 Wildlife. 



Reference Xo. 6: This building is a storage vault wholly used for permanent record 

 files of the Department in the custody of the Division of Operation and Personnel. 



Reference Xo. 7 : This is a steel Quonset building used for storage of equipment of the 

 Division of Surveys and Engineering and of the Division of Research. 



Reference Xo. 8: This is the central radio station of the Department. It reaches all 

 district offices and is connected by telephone and teletype to the head office in the 

 Parliament Buildings. It is operated by the Division of Forest Protection. Living 

 accommodation for the operator is provided in the building. 



Mechanical Rese.arch 



Various projects since 1945 have produced tools and equipment for many 

 branches of the department, but the major developments have been in the field of 

 forest protection and reforestation. 



Brief descriptions will be given of some of the major devices made or in 

 production. The first is the "Pack Tractor''. 



The "Pack Tractor" or "creep" was first suggested at a meeting of regional 

 foresters with representatives of the Research Division and a consultant from industry. 

 This meeting was held after the ^Slississagi fire and the foresters were asked what 

 piece of fire fighting equipment they would most like to have. The answer was some- 

 thing that would get power on to the fire line and that would take the load from the 

 fire fighter's back in covering the last mile or so from air. road or rail transport to the 

 fire. The pack tractor was built in answer to this demand. 



It is a crawler or track laying vehicle, five and one-half feet long, two and 

 one-half feet wide and three and a third feet high, and weighs six hundred and fifty 

 pounds. It will carry its own weight through the bush with little trail cutting. It can 

 be broken down into six pieces each weighing no more than one hundred and thirty 

 pounds for handling by air transport although the whole machine could be contained 

 in a Beaver airplane cabin. The machine may be knocked down or re-assembled by 

 one man in ten minutes. 



By the end of 1951 it is expected that this tractor will be produced commercially. 



In order to reduce labour, time and cost in forest tree nursery and planting 

 practices, a special drive has been made towards mechanization, to which research 

 has contributed. Two such devices are the seedling lifter and root pruner. both of 

 which may be mounted on a large tractor. A steel blade penetrates the ground to a 

 depth of six inches across the full width of the seedling bed. The seedling lifter 



