('.(tiuulidn Foicstrii .lournuL Sovcnihvi. 191S \\)?A 



Forest Protection in British Columbia 



\\\ {a.w-iv. I i:a\i'i I 

 Chief Forester. Commission of Conservalion 



Brilisli (".olumbiii is llu' i>roalesl lores! province of Canada. Her for- 

 ests contain approximately half of the entire stand of saw timber of the 

 whole Dominion, and 24 per cent, of the total stand of the Pacific Northwest. 

 On the other hand, the British Columbia lumber cut in 1913 (the last normal 

 year before the war) was only 13 per cent, of the cut of the Pacific Northwest. 



The progressive development of markets, both domestic and foreign, 

 will unciuesiionably mean a very material increase in the development of 

 the forest industries of the province. That there is ample room for this is 

 indicated by the estimate that the forest resources of British Columbia can, 

 under consen-ative exploitation, supply at least five times the present cut 

 without seriously depleting the capital stock. The reasonableness of this 

 estimate is at once appreciated when the average lumber cut of 1,250 million 

 board feet is compared with the total stand of saw timber, aggregating some 

 350,000 million feet. If all the timber suitable for pulpwood be included the 

 total for the province is 36j6,,000 million feet, according to the report on the 

 forest resources of British Columbia, by R. D. Craig and Dr. H. N. Whitford, 

 to be issued shortly by the Commission of Conservation. 



The economic importance of this situation to British Columbia and to 

 Canada as a whole is evident when it is realized that British Columbia's 

 forest revenue is already larger than that of any other province of the Domin- 

 ion, aggregating around $2,500,000 annually, from provincial Crown timber 

 lands alone. The manufactured value of the primary forest products of the 

 province (such as lumber, pulp, shingles, boxes, piles, poles, mining timbers, 

 etc.), was in 1916 $35,528,000, when the forest ranked second only to the 

 mines in productive value. During 1917, the forest production increased to 

 such an extent as to bring the total value in excess of the value of the mining 

 output. What the forest would mean to British Columbia and to Canada 

 were the total cut to be increased three, four or five-fold, without impairing 

 the capital stock, may be left to the imagination. 



Protection of Young Forest Growtl\. 



It should, however, be noted that these results are predicated upon 

 the basis of what is called conservative exploitation. The most essential 

 feature of such exploitation is protection from destruction by fire, particularly 

 the young forest growth. The report by Messrs. Craig and Whitford, pre- 

 viously referred to, shows that out of a total land area of the province of 353,- 

 000 square miles, some 200,000 square miles is incapable of producing forests 

 of commercial value, because of altitude, rock or wet soil, or complete denuda- 

 tion by fire in times past. The actual and potential productive area of the 

 province is thus reduced to 153,000 square miles. Of this only 28,000 square 

 miles, (less than 20 per cent., and aggregating only 8 per cent, of the total 

 area of the province), now bears sufficient timber to be classified under 

 provincial law as statutory timberland. This leaves the enormous area of 

 125,000 square miles, upon which the stand is less than 8,000 board feet per 

 acre on the Coast, and less than 5,000 feet per acre in the interior. A large 

 proportion of this is land upon which the former forest has been, destroyed 

 by fire, and upon which a young forest has since established itself. The 

 protection of this vast area of young forest is absolutely essential if British 

 Columbia is to reap to the full the great benefits which will follow from the 

 full utilization of the possible annual forest increment. 



The Coast forests, by virtue of climate and location, are actually and 

 potentially by far the most valuable area for area. It is here, then, that the 



