1098 



Canadian Forestry Journal, May, 1917 



Four Fire Associations Now Blanket 



Quebec 



Covering 75,000 Square Miles of Province's Best Forest Land, 

 With Great Gains for Timber Saving 



Quebec's remarkable development 

 of forest protective associations dur- 

 ing the past four years was given a 

 further impetus on April 26th by the 

 formation of the Laurentian Forest 

 Protective Association at Quebec. 

 This latest grouping of limit holders 

 takes in the Lake St. John and Sagu- 

 enay country where hre losses have 

 been substantial during many years. 

 The area is about 15,000 square miles 

 and extends from west of Lake St. 

 John as far East as Mille Yaches, be- 

 yond Tadousac. Hon. R. Turner of 

 Quebec is President and R. L. Sea- 

 borne, manager. Organization of the 

 territory commenced at once and 

 with good inspection service, perman- 

 ent improvements, etc. Mr. Sea- 

 borne's area will doubtless take rank 

 with the best patrolled districts in 

 the province. 



There are now four associations of 

 limit holders in Quebec: the Ottawa 

 River; St. Maurice; Laurentian; and 

 Southern St. Lawrence; covering ap- 

 proximately 75,000 scjuare miles of 

 the best and most accessible timber- 

 lands. The provincial government 

 contributes one, the costs of patrol 

 and fire fighting and leaves the de- 

 tails of management, appointment 

 of rangers, etc. entirely in the hands 

 of the associations. By this means 

 Quebec is securing a degree of forest 

 protection vastly better than under 

 the old system. 



The method will probably not be 

 applied in any other province. On- 

 tario has definitely chosen to impose 

 a fire tax on evQj'y limit holders and 

 place the responsibility of selection 

 and management of patrol, etc. in 

 the hands of the Provincial. Forester, 

 thus allowing to the licensee no au- 

 thority in fire protection matters. 



British Columbia also follows the 

 plan of taxing the licensee for fire 

 protection purposes and retaining 

 control of the ranger staff under the 

 Forest Branch. 



VALUE OF RUSSIAN STUMPAGE 



In normal times before the war, 

 export of Russian lumber amounted 

 to about 5,000,000,000 super feet. 

 This lumber was chiefly ciit in gov- 

 ernment forests. This ciuantity, com- 

 pared with the enormous forest stands 

 of Russia, was so small that it gave 

 the Russian treasurv an amount of 

 only something like"' 20,000,000 rou- 

 bles gross, or 10,000,000 roubles net, 

 which amounts in American currency 

 to about 16 cents per acre. 



A study of the possibilities in the 

 lumber trade after the war made by 

 the Russian government, shows a 

 probability of an increase in the de- 

 mand of Great Britain, France, Hol- 

 land and Belgium for Russian tim- 

 ber, amounting possibly to about 

 3,750,000,000 super feet, which would 

 bring the possible total demand for 

 Russian timber to 8,750,000,000 super 

 feet. According to the nature of the 

 northern Russian forests, this figure 

 represented in sawn material, would 

 mean a cutting of about 20,000,000 

 logs. 



B. C. WATERSHED DISPUTE 



One of the subjects now being 

 popularly discussed by the citizens 

 and press of Vancouver is whether 

 the timber on the Capilano water- 

 shed, from which the city's water 

 supply is obtained, can be logged 

 without danger to the water system. 



