Canadian Forests 113 



districts. Besides this, large stretches of the plain are 

 either completely wooded or parklike, groves and open 

 prairie mixed. Going north the proportion of wood in- 

 creases, until the whole country is covered. The prairie, 

 even mixed with woodland, does not extend much beyond 

 the north branch of the Saskatchewan, except a small area 

 in the valley of the Peace river. However, the species 

 change. The oak extends scarcely beyond the western 

 borders of Manitoba, while the white elm follows the river 

 valleys a little farther west. The green ash is found in 

 southern Saskatchewan and as far west as the Cypress 

 Hills, while the Manitoba maple ranges northward and 

 westward almost to Edmonton. In the northern region 

 the conifers prevail, spruce being the most plentiful ; but 

 poplar, particularly the aspen, is found everywhere. Some- 

 times, it forms thickets of slender saplings ; at other times, 

 forests of lofty trees fifty feet high and up to two feet in 

 diameter. It is the all-prevailing wood of the prairie. 



In western Alberta; the forest of the foothills gradually 

 passes into the conifer type of the Rocky Mountains. 

 British Columbia is the province of conifers. The heaviest 

 timber is found in the coast region where the rainfall is 

 most plentiful, and the lightest in the somewhat dry in- 

 terior. The species are mostly different from those found 

 farther east, but the trees reach a size unknown anywhere 

 else in Canada. Almost solid forests of Engelmann's 

 spruce are found in the valleys and on the mountain sides 

 of the Rockies, giving way in places to lodgepole pine or 

 Douglas fir. In the dry interior the yellow pine is most 



