1670 



Canadian Forestry Journal, May, 1918 



United Kingdom, drew its siii)plies 

 from RiiP.sia, no doubl found much 

 justificalion in economy of transport, 

 but unless the Canadian forests can 

 be adequately protected and made 

 available in case of necessity for 

 the United Kingdom, it is certain 

 that the area of timber within the 

 British Isles must be increased far 

 beyond that recommended in the 

 proposals made in the following pages. 

 We commend this Imperial question 



to the attention of the Conference 

 mecling in London. 



"It is urgent because preparations 

 made now cannot mature for many 

 years, and unless provision is 

 made now either in. Canada, Russia 

 or the British Isles, it is practically 

 certain that the United Kingdom 

 will find timber difficult to procure 

 in sufficient quantities before such 

 preparations can mature." 



Russia's Grip on Britain 



"Russia, as will be evident from 

 the facts already given," continues 

 the Forestry Sub-Committee, "is now 

 the crux of the whole question. She 

 is, and has been for several years, 

 the only source on which we could, 

 under present conditions, rely to 

 make good the decline in our imports 

 of coniferous timber from other coun- 

 tries and meet our ever-expanding 

 demand. She has accomplished this 

 bv increasing her supplies to us from 

 2,241,000 loads in 1889 to 5,401,000 

 loads in the year preceding the war. 

 We have now reached the point when 

 any check in the Russian supply 

 would inevitably cause a timber 

 famine in the United Kingdom." 



The Russian forests are something 

 of a mystery, and the reports which 

 reach us are conflicting. The area 

 of land classed as forest in Russia 

 and Siberia is enormous, amounting 

 to 1,260,000 square miles, of which 

 by far the greater part belongs to 

 the State. Much of the so-called 

 forest is without commercial value. 

 Of the million square miles belonging 

 to the State, less than two-thirds 

 are true forest land. Applying this 

 proportion to the whole area the 

 total extent of true forest land in 

 Russia and Siberia is estimated at 

 814.000 square miles. To this must 

 be added 82,000 square miles of 

 forest in Finland, making a total of 

 896,000 square miles for the Russian 

 Empire. These forests spread over 

 a very wide area and in climates 

 ranging from temperate to arctic, 



vary greatly in the amount of timber 

 they carry and in the rate of growth. 

 The forests of Central Russia appear 

 to be generally of poor quality, and 

 with regard to Siberia railway con- 

 struction on a large scale would be 

 necessary to make its timber avail- 

 able for export. Devastation by the 

 inhabitants and fires have also de- 

 prived a great part of the Siberian 

 forests of their value. The timber 

 imported into the United Kingdom 

 has hitherto come from the virgin 

 provinces and from Archangel. While 

 the information at our disposal in- 

 dicates that the timber produced by 

 these northern forests could be very 

 considerably increased without ex- 

 ceeding the annual growth, it is 

 evident that permanency of the sup- 

 ply must depend on the introduction 

 of systematic management. The 

 growth in the northern forests is 

 extremely slow and it will take a 

 long time to replace the pine, spruce 

 and larch now Ijeing felled. It must 

 also be remembered that the develop- 

 ment of the Russian Empire is certain 

 to be accompanied by an increased 

 home consumption, which may, as 

 in the United States, gradually cur- 

 tail or even, extinguish the reserves 

 available for export. We have al- 

 ready indicated what this woidd 

 mean for the United Kingdom. 



Planting Programme 



The Sub-Committee recommends 

 the immediate institution of a plant- 

 ing programme to cover 1,770,000 



