GAME AND FORESTRY IN CANADA. 



By J. R. Dickson. 



Canadians are beginning to "take stock." Literally every 

 day we find new proof that our splendid young commonwealth 

 is a vast storehouse of undeveloped resources. And even were 

 we still indisposed to claim the twentieth century as ours, the 

 eager investors and homeseekers of the mother country and 

 other lands will not be denied. The hands of that conservative 

 element in our eastern provinces are being forced to grasp a new 

 rtmg on the ladder of progress by the pulsing life of "The West." 

 Nation-building is great fun, and Johnnie Canuck is into the 

 game. 



Now, nation-building implies the creation of permanent 

 industries, among a contented people; hence, if "forestry is 

 the parent of industries," what step more natural than to find 

 out as quickly as possible our forest areas and their condition 

 and environment , in order that a rational policy of development 

 for this generation and unselfish conservation for coming genera- 

 tions may be adopted? At present all our federal reserves lie 

 beyond the Great Lakes. The Westerner, brimfuU of energy 

 as he is, is still an opportunist and thinks only of the present. 

 Few look ahead even five years, and much the same fight on 

 behalf of future citizens that has been waged and won in the 

 western states of the great American republic must here, too, 

 become a function and duty of good government. 



Forestry costs money on the start, and costs a good deal; 

 and the returns, though fairly opulent, are long delayed. Hence 

 the good forester seizes every legitimate source of current 

 revenue, in order to neutralize, as much as may be, the running 

 expenses of protection and administration. Canada is to-day 

 par excellence the land of game, both big and small; and, 

 provided only that the Canadian people awake to their oppor- 

 tunity, is boimd in the future to hold its own, and even increase 

 its lead, in this regard. It has always seemed to riie, therefore, 

 that this question of possible game revenue merits a great deal 

 of study from our Canadian foresters. 



Of course, this feature of game preservation bulks larger 

 in private forestry than in Government management, for the 

 simple reason that the former owner regards it as truly a valuable 

 asset and acts accordingly. Take the case, for instance, of the 

 Vanderbilt estate at Biltmore, where Dr. Schenck offsets the 

 entire cost of forest protection by the return from himting 

 permits. Nor has he the moose and elk — not to speak of goat, 

 grizzly and cariboo — of our latitudes. What matter if the timber 



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