78 Canadian Forestry Journal. 



The report urged the consolidation of the forestry work in the 

 Bureau of Forestry, and the repeal of the Timber and Stone Act, 

 with the substitution of an Act providing for the sale of timber 

 by public competition. 



After the preliminary business of the first morning's session 

 was disposed of the Congress took up the consideration of the 

 Importance of the Public Forest Lands to Irrigation. In the 

 Western States, as in part of Western Canada, there are large 

 tracts of land that depend for their agricultural possibilities on a 

 supply of w^ater for irrigation, and the sources of supply in the 

 Sierras and the Rocky Mountains are largely controlled and regu- 

 lated by the forests growing upon them. This intimate relation 

 is felt by the people of the West, and the subject was introduced 

 by the Secretary of the National Irrigation Association, who 

 voiced an urgent demand that the wholesale destruction of tim- 

 bered watersheds should be prevented, and that action should be 

 taken to reforest lands where the value of the water supply w^ould 

 warrant such a step. Another question of interest to the West 

 was grazing in relation to the forest reserves wdiich was dealt 

 with by representatives of the Stock Association. Cattle and sheep 

 are allowed to graze in the forest reserves under permit and 

 special instructions. Investigation of the ranges has shown that 

 damage caused by live stock is usually due to over-stocking, graz- 

 ing too early in the season, or the manner in which the stock is 

 handled, all of which can be directly charged to the previous lack 

 of any system of management rather than to the sheep and cattle. 



The Lumber Industry and the Forest, the next subject 

 brought before the convention, was given over into the hands of 

 the lumbermen and the Lumber Associations. Three lumber 

 companies were represented by their Presidents or Vice-Presidents 

 in the list of papers presented, and as many of the Lumber Manu- 

 facturers' Associations were also heard. This session was pre- 

 sided over by Mr. N. W. McLeod, President of the National 

 Lumber Manufacturers' Association. From all came a strong de- 

 claration of the interest of the luibbermen in forestry, and at 

 the same^ time a statement that this had not always been their atti- 

 tude. The change has been due to two causes specially. 

 First, to a clearer understanding by the advocates of forestry 



