('.(iTKulidn Forcslrij JoiirnuL JiiniKirij, 19hS 



lt93 



going into tree-covered lands of the 

 northern areas, this peril has become 

 higlily acute and resulted in heavy 

 annual losses to timber possessions 

 and the settlers themselves. Those 

 in charge of the Timl)er Reserves, 

 (made up mostly of non-agricultural 

 soils) have been often helpless to hold 

 back settlers' fires and had no auth- 

 ority to prevent their being lighted 

 in seasons of great hazard. 



How the West Has Paid 



From this cause alone, the three 

 prairie provinces have lost a vast 

 amount of their own timber supplies. 

 At the same time, the Dominion 

 authorities could not prevent such 

 annual disasters, for the reason that 

 most of the settlers were under Pro- 

 vincial jurisdiction. 



Fortunately, Manitoba and Sask- 

 atchewan saw the reasonableness of 

 the proposals that they should co- 

 operate in safeguarding their local 

 forest materials. This was done in 

 1917 by the passing of new Prairie 

 and Forest Fires Acts in both pro- 

 vinces, requiring a settler to take out 

 a permit before setting a clearing fire 

 and giving the enforcement of the 

 provision into the hands of municipal 

 guardians or Dominion rangers. The 

 object of the precaution is to guide 

 the settler in what might become a 

 A^ery dangerous act. There is no 

 hardship to the settler and a good 

 service rendered to the community. 



A Loophole in Manitoba 



Manitoba's Act in practice divulg- 

 ed one weakness, which the approach- 

 ing session of the Legislature may 

 remedy. This was in the failure to 

 give Dominion Forest Rangers full 

 authority in a zone about the Re- 

 serves. Because of this loophole, 

 much iire trouble was encountered b\' 

 the rangers in the 1917 season. 



Alberta, however, did not sec its 

 way to adopt the amendments to 

 its Prairie and Forest Fires Act, 

 although the need in Alberta is per- 

 haps even more pressing than in the 

 two sister provinces. Forests have a 

 special importance for the people of 

 Alberta in that they are essential not 

 only to create supplies for farming and 



stock raising, but to maintain the 

 uniformity of the rivers, to make the 

 irrigation enterprises possible, to give 

 pit props to the coal mines, free fuel 

 and building materials to the north- 

 ern settler, and support and increase 

 the wood using industries. To all 

 such constructive activities, however, 

 the unsupervised settlers' lire- is a 

 perpetual menace. If New Brun- 

 swick lives up to expectations this 

 year and blankets the province with 

 a ''Permit'" system to control clear- 

 ing tires. Alberta would then be the 

 only province tolerating such a pub- 

 lic peril. Wherever the "permit" law 

 has been applied it has proved a con- 

 spicuous success, winning the con- 

 fidence of those who at first created 

 some opposition. 



Alberta's Ofhportunitij 

 \Vill the Alberta Legislature step 

 into line with progressive action this 

 year? 



A draft amendment, carefully pre- 

 pared, and asking only the minimum 

 precautions consistent with the safety 

 of settlers' lives and national pro- 

 perty, is now in the hands of the 

 Premier, Hon. Chas. Stewart, await- 

 ing decision. 



One of the Canadian Forestry 

 Association's travelling Lecture Sets 

 reached Halifax about a week before 

 the disaster. It was used before 

 several meetings of school children 

 and teachers and forwarded to Syd- 

 ney, N. S. 



To the three Lecture Sets now in 

 use, a fourth wall be added shortly, 

 showing the proper management of 

 the woodlot. The latter Lecture will 

 be utilized for meetings wdiere the 

 most direct results may be obtained 

 by confining the subject to woodlot 

 considerations. 



The Association invites correspond- 

 ence from those who can utilize one 

 of the sets to advantage, before a 

 school, church, or general audience. 

 Each consists of from 50 to 55 lantern 

 slides in xolors and a manuscript, 

 with complete directions. No charge 

 whatever is made by the Association, 

 the only item of expense being the 

 small fee for expressage. 



