Camulidu Forcslrij JoiuiKil, Mdij, li)17 



1095 



New Brunswick Probes its Forest 



Contents 



Survey Discloses Interesting Conditions Showing Need Fire for 

 Prevention and Attention to Reproduction 



The Survey of the forest possessions 

 of New Brunswick has now reached 

 a point where many very instructive 

 conclusions are available. In making 

 his report to the Government, Mr. 

 P. Z. Caverhill, director of the survev, 

 states that of a total of 7,500,000 

 acres of Crown Lands, 550,000 acres 

 have been surveyed and examined by 

 the field parties. The mapping and 

 compiling of 371,000 acres have been 

 completed. 



Of the total area examined, 82,270 

 acres have been burned by fires of 

 fairly recent date. Had this area not 

 been burned over there would have 

 been, besides the amount logged from 

 time to time, merchantable timber 

 worth at least $714,000 and the 

 harvesting of this would have yielded 

 the people of the Province through 

 wages, etc. $4,000,000. 



Assuming that this burned area 

 represents an average of Crown Lands 

 the loss to the Province in stumpage 

 during the past forty years has been 

 some $14,280,000, and some $80,- 

 000,000 that could have brought into 

 the province by the sale of lumber 

 products has been turned elsewhere. 



The forest land of New Brunswick 

 could be adequately protected by an 

 annual expenditure of three quarters 

 of one per cent per acre — $50,000 to 

 $75,000 per year. In order to save 

 the expenditure of $75,000 per year 

 "it would appear that we have during 

 the past forty years lost in stumpage 

 $14,000,000 and have turned into 

 other channels $80,000,000." 



"Confronted with these facts what 

 will be the future answer to the forest 

 protection question?" asks the report. 



What the Surveij Shows 



On 371,000 acres, 76 per cent was 

 found to be covered with merchant- 



able timber, and less than two per 

 cent with second growth of less than 

 merchantable size. Eleven per cent 

 has been burned in times past but now 

 contains young forest growth in 

 sufficient quantities to replace ul- 

 timately the former forest. On nine 

 per cent of the area mapped, fires 

 have caused such damage that satis- 

 factory reproduction has been made 

 impossible. Of the remaining, two 

 per cent, less than half represents the 

 area of lands cleared or cultivated, 

 and the balance is made up of caribou 

 barrens, cranberry bogs, swamp land 

 not supporting commercial growth, 

 etc. 



$300,000,000! 



If it be assumed that the 271,000 

 acres mapped to date is fairly re- 

 presentative of the 7,500,000 acres of 

 Crown lands, the total stand will be 

 in the neighborhood of 16,220 million 

 feet, estimated to be worth in stump- 

 age at least $48,000,000. Mr. Caver- 

 hill estimates that the harvesting and 

 marketing of this crop will distribute 

 among the people of New Brunswick 

 not less than $300,000,000. 



The Timber Contents 



The commercial timber on the 

 282,064 acres of timber land is es- 

 timated as follows: 



