80 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 



to assume an original stand of sawtimber of all kinds averaging 2,500 feet 

 on all the acreage (1,600,000 feet per square mile), which any one acquainted 

 with this forest type would pronounce an extravagant allowance, there 

 never was more than 500 billion feet available. The above cited export and 

 home requirements indicate a consumption of not less than 300 billion feet, 

 leaving still available 200 billion feet, which by a reduction of standards 

 may be increased to 300 billion feet. What this amount signifies can only 

 be understood by comparison with figures of consumption: it does not 

 represent more than seven years' supply of the annual requirements of our 

 neighbour ! , 



The orily other commercial timber area of Canada is found in'<southern 

 British Columbia. This area is by competent land lookers placed 'at only 

 30 million acres, b*ut if the standards be lowered, we might find ifr extended 

 to 50 million acres. A liberal allowance will bring the stand to 'about the 

 same amount as is still found in the East, namely; 300 billion' feet; another 

 seven years' supply fofr ^tiVLT neighbours which they have to a large extent 

 already pre-empted. ^^ 



The vast remaining', territory no 'doubt contains timber, and sometimes 

 of good character, but'this is all needed for the development of the coun- 

 try itself and does for th^' most part not 'occur in such quantities and loca- 

 tions as would invite commercial exploitation except for home use. 



These figures we must admit are mere reasonable guesses, and the 

 absence of more* reliable information is rather a reflection on the managers 

 of your national property, and stiggests the first step of reform which every 

 provincial and the Dominion Government should take, namely, to secure a 

 descriptive forest survey, 'a taking of stock of the property of which hitherto 

 they have disposed without any adequate knowledge. 



Such forest surveys (which are not surveyor's surveys) can be made 

 much less expensively than is usually believed, much of the information 

 being already in existence but not compiled for use. 



It should be collected, not as it has been hitherto, by timber lookers, 

 merely with a view as to where the commercial exploitable timber is to be 

 found, but with a view of furnishing the basis for plans of future manage- 

 ment of the forest area as si whole. 



This work, to be sure, requires experts and these are as yet in existence 

 only in small numbers, yet there are enough to make at least a beginning, 

 and the Dominion Government has, I believe,* made a laud'able beginning. 



The next thing to be done is the formulation of plans of future man- 

 agement and that involves a scrutiny of the existing timber limit licenses 

 with a view of their eventual termination and at least more specific regula- 

 tions as regards the cutting and taking care of the debris, gradually bring- 

 ing them in line for conservative forest management. 



It must be realized that no general rule as for instance a universal 

 diameter limit, or even of the burning of debris, will work satisfactorily in 

 all cases. Each case requires specific consideration and description. And 

 especially in working the untouched limits and forest reservations, in which 

 probably all the remaining unlicensed timber, or, at least, all non-agricul- 

 tural lands should be placed, proper working plans should be made and 

 followed, i.e., forestry practised from the start. 



That these requirements can only be met by the employment of techni- 

 cally educated men is 1 self-evident. Their absence may in part account for 

 the absence or slow progress in the movements indicated. I feel, therefore, 

 that the establishment of the Faculty of Forestry at the University of 



