Report of Forests and Waterpowers Committee. 



Immediately following upon the In- 

 ternational Conservation Conference the 

 House of Commons took up the question 

 of the investigation of the natural re- 

 sources of Canada, and appointed three 

 committees for this purpose, to which 

 were assigned respectively the duties of 

 reporting on (1) the Forests, Waterways 

 and Waterpowers; (2) Mines and 

 Minerals, and (3) Marine and Fisheries. 



On Feby. 26th the members of the 

 Committee on Forests, Waterways and 

 Waterpowers were named as follows: — 

 Hon. Clifford Sifton, Hon. Sydney Fish- 

 er, ^Hon. J. G. Haggart, Messrs. Jas. 

 Arthurs, H. S. Beland, Glen L. Camp- 

 bell, F. B. Carvell, M. Chew, M. Currie, 

 J. W. Edwards, F. L. Fowke, George 

 Gordon, T. Macnutt, H. H. McLean, 

 C A. Magrath, J. P. Molloy, F. D. Monk, 

 G H. Perley, S. W. W. Pickup, W. Price, 

 J W. Richards, E. W. Tobin, G. V. 

 White, W. H. White and C. A. Wilson; 

 to these Mr. F. T. Savoie was subse- 

 quently added. 



The committee met for organization 

 on March 31st, when Hon. C. Sifton was 

 elected chairman. Several meetingsof 

 the committee were held, at which 

 evidence was given by Messrs. R. E. 

 Young, R. H. Campbell and P. E. Ryan. 



On May 17th the final report of the 

 committee was presented by Dr. Beland, 

 and on May 18th, on motion of Hon. C. 

 Sifton, was concurred in by the Hou.se. 



The Committee's Report. 



.After a brief reference to the appoint- 

 ment of the committee late in the session 

 and the consequent incompleteness of 

 the report by reason of the short time 

 allowed for investigation, the committee 

 recommended as follows: — 



1st. It has been shown that the officers 

 of the Transcontinental Railway have 

 framed and promulgated excellent re- 

 gulations for the protection of forests 

 along the line of the Transcontinental 

 Railway and that various plans are 

 being adopted in the Provinces of New 

 Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario for en- 

 forcing these regulations. It is quite 

 apparent that the result of the attention 

 which has been given to the subject has 

 been to very largely reduce the destruc- 



tion of forests by fire which has hereto- 

 fore almost always characterized the 

 construction of railways through forest 

 territory. Your Ccrtiimittee, however, 

 are impressed with the belief that a 

 great amount of additional attention 

 should be given to the enforcement of 

 the regulations and believes that the 

 Commissioners would feel that their 

 hands were strengthened in the work if 

 they were supported by specific action 

 on the part of the House of Commons. 

 It is therefore recommended that the 

 Commissioners be asked to devote 

 special attention to the enforcement of 

 the lire regulations and to provide any 

 additional staff necessary for that pur- 

 pose; also that power be given to the 

 Commissioners to expropriate additional 

 width of right of way where necessary to 

 provide adequate protection against 

 fire. 



2nd. Your Committee desires to call 

 attention to the need for itnmediate ac- 

 tion in regard to the conservation of the 

 forests on the eastern slope of the Rocky 

 Mountains. This territory, once heavily 

 timbered, is no longer in that condition, 

 although it contains a considerable 

 quantity of merchantable timber. There 

 has been very great destruction by fire, 

 even in recent years. The importance of 

 preserving the forests on the tract in 

 question cannot possibly be exaggerat- 

 ed. The rivers which flow down through 

 Saskatchewan and Alberta, upon which, 

 almost exclusively, the whole water 

 supply for domestic, municipal and 

 irrigation purposes of the population of 

 these provinces depends, have their 

 sources between the foothills and sum- 

 mit of the Rocky Mountains. Apart 

 from the question of actual water 

 supply, other matters of far-reaching 

 importance are involved, such as the 

 continued fertility of the soil, the 

 regularity of the rainfall and the modera- 

 tion of the climate. These all depend 

 upon the continuation of the flow of the 

 rivers in question. When these rivers 

 are used to their utmost limit as at 

 present distributed, the quantity of 

 water there, leaving aside domestic and 

 municipal supply, is sufficient to irrigate 

 about two per cent, of the irrigable land, 



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