124 Canadian Forestry Journal. 



but there has been considerable settlement in the vicinity and 

 fires have run through most of the reserve. The timber is spruce 

 and poplar. 



The Kootenay Lakes Forest Reserve is on the eastern slope 

 of the Rocky Mountains near the international boundary. The 

 area is small and its chief value is as a park. There has been 

 considerable prospecting for petroleum in the vicinity of this 

 reserve. 



In the Railway Belt in British Columbia most of the re- 

 serves established by the Act are in the Kamloops District 

 which is the dry belt of British Columbia. This is the central 

 portion of the Province and the rain coming from the ocean 

 is precipitated on the mountains lying between the coast and 

 the interior, with the result that the rainfall in the Kamloops 

 District is small. These reserves have therefore been estab- 

 hshed mainly for the purpose of conserving the water supply. 

 The hills covered by these reserves rise to a height of something 

 like 6000 feet, and are generally too elevated to be of use for 

 successful farming operations. Their influence on the flow of 

 the streams is however very important for agricultural operations 

 in the valleys below, as, in order to ensure successful agriculture, 

 it is necessary to depend to a greater or lesser extent on the 

 application of water to the land by artificial means. The prin- 

 cipal species of trees found in these reserves are the Douglas 

 fir and black pine (Pinus Murrayana). 



The Donald Forest Reserve lying farther east in the Pro- 

 vince of British Columbia is not so important for water supply 

 but is in a splendid timber and scenic district. 



The Governor of West Virginia writing in support of the 

 proposed estabhshment of the Appalachian Forest Reserve arid 

 the White Mountain Forest Reserve says: "In all mountain 

 countries the destruction of the forests has been a destruction 

 of the country. 'After the timber the flood.' The soil hardens 

 hke a slate roof and the water runs off. It is the amount of 

 water which enters the soil, not the precipitation, which makes a 

 region a garden or a desert. The soil is destroyed, the streams 

 dwindle to nothing, or at times are irresistible torrents spreading 



devastation and terror along their courses In a denuded 



country the streams are yellow, the soil carried to the sea, naviga- 

 tion impeded thereby, water-power imperilled, food fish and 

 other aquatic life killed and scenic beauty destroyed." 



