1780 



Canadian Forcslrij Journal, July, 1918 



Why Forest Reserves are Created 



Bv II. C. Wallin, Chief of Surveys, Dominion Forestry Branch. 



Dominion Government Desires to 

 Protect Settlers from Poor Soils 

 and to Maintain Timber Supply. 



The objects of the reconnaissance 

 surveys undertaken by the Dominion 

 P'orestry Branch are to procure in- 

 formation in regard to the value of 

 the lands examined in relation to 

 agriculture and as sources of water 

 or timber supply, and to determine 

 the advisability of recommending 

 them for inclusion in Forest Reserve. 



The prairie lands becoming sellbd, 

 landseekers are now turning to the 

 wooded districts for their home- 

 steads. A glance at the Dominion 

 Homestead maps will show us how 

 every year settlement advances a 

 little further north. 



River bottom lands and lands 

 surrounding lakes and along railroads 

 are first taken up but gradually the 

 settlements extend, the farms becom- 

 ing more and more scattered as we 

 get farther away from the main 

 settlement. Experience has taught 

 us that while generally the original 

 settlements are well chosen, many of 

 the homesteads surrounding them are 

 or should be a cause of constant 

 ■v^'orry to their owners. Up in the 

 northern country the climatic topo- 

 graphic and soil conditions are not 

 as a rule favourable to agriculture. 

 Pockets or belts of agricultural land 

 are, of course, found but the greater 

 part is unsuitable for farming. Many 

 of the immigrants taking up home 

 steads in Canada are not farmers, 

 many are city- born and bred and 

 having no experience and no know 

 ledge of soil conditions, etc.. they 

 are often induced to take up a piece 

 of laad that is not capable of support- 

 ing them in decency. 



The result is that they either 

 abandon the land after a few years 

 or else stay there trying to eke out a 

 bare living by doing odd jobs on the 



outside. The man may be of a 

 certain value to the community as a 

 laborer but the 160 acres he has 

 homesleaded are not doing their share 

 in the development of Canada. They 

 are idle or, if they are being tilled, 

 they are tilled to no purpose. In- 

 stead of increasing, the land is de- 

 creasing in value on account of the 

 timber or young growth, which usu- 

 ally is taken off the homestead by 

 useless clearing or by fires started 

 accidentally or intentionally. 



To Save the Homesteader. 

 The prevention of homesteading 

 on non-agricultural lands is one im- 

 portant reason why the Forestry 

 Branch is anxious to have the coun- 

 try examined with a view to classify- 

 ing the lands with regard to their 

 suitability for farming or for forestry 

 purposes. But it is, of course, not 

 only the increased prosperity of agri- 

 cultural Canada that we have in 

 view in recommending the with- 

 drawal of lands from settlement or in 

 establishing Forest Reserves as pro- 

 posed by our reconnaissance officers. 

 The protection of merchantable tim- 

 ber and young growth and as a 

 direct consequence thereof, the main- 

 tenance of a stable water flow in the 

 watercourse is perhaps of even more 

 interest to the forester. Thus we 

 have another object in reconnaissance 

 work: namely the location and ulti- 

 mate reservation of valuable stands 

 of limber or reproduction. By 

 including these in Forest Reserves 

 and thus placing them under the 

 jurisdiction of the Forestry Branch 

 we are able to afford the forest cover 

 a better protection from fire and 

 wasteful logging. Moreover, the tim- 

 ber sales will be based on rational 

 methods. 



