908 



Canadian Forestry Journal, January, 1917 



LARGE PART OF B.C. FOREST LANDS 

 DEVOID OF TIMBER 



Heavy Inroads of Past Fires — ^Present Supply Ample However 

 For Great Development 



On November 23, Mr. Roland D. 

 Craig addressed the Forestry Club, 

 Ottawa, on the subject of the forests 

 of British Columbia, which he treated 

 from the physiographic and silvicul- 

 tural standpoints. 



The province of British Columbia 

 is approximately 740 miles from north 

 to south and averages 400 miles in 

 width, with a total area of about 

 250,000,000 acres. Running from 

 north to south ranges of mountains 

 divide the province physiographically 

 into four main zones, which differ 

 widely in regard to climate and silvi- 

 cultural conditions. The warm, 

 moisture-laden winds off the waters 

 of the Japan current, in ascending the 

 Pacific slope of the Coast Range of 

 mountains, produce an ecjuable 

 climate and cause a heavy precipita- 

 tion which is conducive to luxuriant 

 forest growth. To the eastward of 

 the Coast range lie the broad interior 

 plateaux where greater extremes of 

 temperature and drier conditions pre- 

 vail owing to the fact that the winds 

 have been robbed of their moisture 

 in passing over the coast mountains. 

 On the eastern side of the province 

 another series of ranges, the chief 

 of which are the Rockies, again cause 

 a large precipitation and another belt 

 of heavy forests, resembling those on 

 the coast, occur. The north eastern 

 portion of the province, comprising 

 approximately one-eighth of the total 

 area, lies to the east of the Rockies and 

 belongs to the Great Plains, on which 

 the forests are of the same type as in 

 northern Alberta and Saskatchewan. 

 From north to south these main zones 

 may be sub-divided following changes 

 in climatic conditions due to differ- 

 ences in latitude and local topo- 

 graphy. 



Bulk of Timber on Coast 



Two-thirds of the total stand of the 

 timber in the province is on the coast, 

 though the area is only one-quarter of 

 the total. In the coast region for 150 

 miles north of the International 

 boundary, and including most of 

 Vancouver Island, the forests are of 

 the Douglas fir-cedar-hemlock type, 

 with balsam, spruce, white pine and 

 yellow cedar as secondary species. 

 For the next 100 miles where the 

 temperature is lower and the precipi- 

 tation heavier, red cedar predominates, 

 with fir occurring only at the heads 

 of the fiords which indent the coast 

 and where the precipitation is lower. 

 Associated with the red cedar are 

 hemlock, balsam, spruce and yellow 

 cedar. On the northern coast the 

 following species occur in order of 

 predominance: hemlock, spruce, red 

 cedar, balsam and yellow cedar. 

 Though confined to a comparatively 

 narrow range on the coast, Douglas 

 fir forms over thirty percent of the 

 stand with red cedar twenty-seven 

 percent, hemlock twenty-four percent, 

 balsam nine percent, spruce seven 

 percent, yellow cedar two percent, 

 white pine one-half percent, and 

 lodgepole pine and cottonwood one- 

 half percent. 



In the Interior Plateau region drier 

 conditions permit a much wider dis- 

 tribution of the Douglas fir which 

 extends to the north of the Grand 

 Trunk Pacific Railway and in the 

 southern region western yellow pine 

 and western larch are added to the 

 forest species. Taking the interior 

 forests as a whole, spruce forms over 

 40% with red cedar, balsam, fir, 

 hemlock, lodgepole pine, yellow pine, 

 larch, white pine and cottonwood in 



