TURTLE MOUNTAIN FOREST RESERVE. 



ROLAND D. CRAIG, F.E. 



During the past summer the Forestry Branch made an 

 examination of the Turtle Mountain Forest Reserve in southern 

 Manitoba, with a view to obtaining definite information as to the 

 condition of the present stand, the possibiHties of timber pro- 

 duction and the steps necessary for tlie protection of the forests 

 growing thereon. 



The Reserve covers 69,920 acres of rough, hilly, and sloughy 

 country in Township 1, Ranges 19, 20, 21 and 22, and as is 

 almost always the case in the middle West where there are hills 

 or water you will find timber, as a result of these natural fire 

 breaks protecting the trees from the fires which sweep over the 

 prairie. The general elevation is only 300 to 500 feet above the 

 surrounding prairie. Lakes and sloughs cover about 15,000 

 acres, leaving 5 5 ,000 acres of timber producing land. As a glance 

 at the accompanying map will show, the country to the north and 

 east is watered by many streams which rise in these hills. Some 

 of these form the head-waters of the Pembina and Whitemud 

 rivers, but a number of others lose themselves on the prairie. 



The mature stand is composed of aspen, 43%; balm of 

 Gilead, 14% ; white birch, 21% ; scrub oak, 9% ; ash, 8% ; elm, 5% 

 and an occasional Manitoba maple. There was originally a much 

 larger proportion of oak, but the demand for oak logs and posts 

 has been so great that now very little remains. 



Since the advent of the settler fires have been so frequent 

 and so destructive that now only 1,600 acres remain uninjured; 

 on 6,400 acres the forest has been partially destroved and the 

 remainder is devoid of large timber, but is covered with a dense 

 reproduction which if protected from further fires will in a few 

 years produce even a better stand than the original. 



Several small sawmills have in the past operated in these 

 forests, but at present only one is left and it takes onlv a small 

 number of logs for a very limited local trade. The dav of the log 

 buildings is past in that region, so that now the main uses of the 

 reserve are to supply fuel and fence material, to protect the 

 watershed, to harbor game, to serve as a pleasure and health re- 

 sort, and for its general ameliorating eflFect upon the climate. 



Farmers living within a radius of 50 miles come to the 

 Reserve every year for their supplies of wood and during the last 



