Canadian Forest rii Journal. Maij. 1918 



1691 



Forestry and the War 



Bv Dr. B. E. FERNcnv 

 Deal}, Facultij af Fon'slrij, Uriiversilij of Toronto 



Has the Public Opinion Yet Been Convinced 

 That Forest Maintenance Is State Business ? 



The relations of the ^var to forests 

 and forestry are many; they can be 

 discussed from a variety of points of 

 view. There is a role which forests 

 are playing in military evolutions — 

 the consumption of materials for war 

 uses, the destruction of forests in the 

 w ar zone, the disturbance of regulated 

 forest management where such exist- 

 ed, etc. 



It is not my purpose to exhaust 

 the theme, but to direct attention 

 particularly to what I consider the 

 most important and possibly most 

 lasting effect, namely, upon the de- 

 velopment of future forest policies in 

 our country. I shall only briefly 

 touch on other relationships. 



The war has taught us, in the first 

 place, new appreciation of the value 

 of forests and forest products. We 

 have been made aware of the fact 

 that, as in olden times, forests play 

 a not unimportant role in modern 

 military tactics — important enough 

 to pay particular attention to the 

 maintenance of boundary forests as 

 a matter of State policy. Indeed, 

 the aeroplane development as a most 

 efficient reconnoitering means imparts 

 a particular, additional value to forest 

 cover as a screen against observers. 



Next, we have found that in mod- 

 ern warfare, forest products are needed 

 in large quantities, and that home 

 supplies are preferable to importa- 

 tions, not only because of the possible 

 inability of securing such, but on ac- 

 count of transportation difficulties. 



The average trench recjuires alone 

 about one cubic foot of wood to 10 

 feet of trench — say, 60,000 feet, board 

 measure, to the mile, or 15 billion 

 lO the French front, not to account 

 for shelters, artillery screens, block- 

 houses, etc., and fuel. Such struc- 

 tures consume on the French front 



as much as $500 to $1,200 worth of 

 wood apiece. 



Again, forest industries which were 

 on the decline or entirely abandoned 

 have been revived by the war and 

 new uses for wood products developed. 



In Germany, cut off from the out- 

 side world, the long-abandoned naval- 

 stores industry, based largely on 

 spruce, and the tan-bark industry, 

 based on oak coppice, have been re- 

 vived, v^hile in France the need of 

 pine timber has made serious inroads 

 in the turpentine woods of the Landes. 



Wooden ships and aeroplanes call 

 for special materials. The substitu- 

 tion of wood cellulose for cotton in 

 the manufacture of explosives and the 

 use of sawdust for cattle feed are 

 among the new uses. 



Moreover, we have learned to ap- 

 preciate that certain classes of forest 

 products are rare and of special value. 

 Sitka spruce, once a despised material, 

 is now found almost indispensable for 

 aeroplane construction, furnishing 

 long, clear, light, yet strong, material. 

 The limited supply of such material 

 suggests the propriety of Government 

 control. 



French Forests Destroyed 



One of the first thoughts which the 

 theme suggests leads us to the battle- 

 fields in Flanders, where a wholesale 

 destruction of forest cover has des- 

 olated the country. While the ter- 

 ritory occupied by the enemy rep- 

 resents only a small fraction of the 

 whole of France, it includes a pro- 

 portionally large part of the French 

 forest area; perhaps one-fifth to one- 

 fourth of the total forest area — the 

 most extensive and richest portion of 

 French forests — is located in the war 

 zone and much of it destroyed — a sad 

 loss, \\ hich it will take many years to 



