Western Forestry and Conservation Association 



Successful Meeting in Vancouver. /{.('., Dec. lo-lfi, 1913. 



For the first time the Western Forestry 

 ami C'on>ervation Association, comprising 

 the associations of Montana, Iilaho, Wash- 

 ington, Oregon and California, and of Bri- 

 tish Columbia, met in Canadian territory, 

 thi> sessions being held in Vancouver on 

 Dec. ir, and 16, 1913. 



About one hundred lumbermen were pre- 

 sent when President A. L. Flewelling of 

 Spokane opened the meeting. With him on 

 the jilatform were ^Ir. E. T. Allen, Forester 

 and Manager of the Association, and Mr. 

 Geo. M. Cornwall, Editor of the Timberman, 

 Portland, Oregon, Secretary-Treasurer. After 

 the President "s address, Mr. Allen gave his 

 review of the year 's work, concluding with 

 the following epigrammatic summary: 'A 

 season of average fire hazard, but a loss of 

 less than $1,000, is the compiled report of 

 the local associations. The area patrolled 

 was 22 million acres. This contains over 

 500 billion feet or one-fifth of the nation's 

 entire supply. The area of merchantable 

 tinilier burned over was 2,810 acres, or one- 

 eightieth of one per cent. Actual destruc- 

 tion was 583,000 feet, which is one-one- 

 thousanilth of one per cent. This is far bet- 

 ter than the best previous record, that of 

 1911. The cost of this year's work was 

 about $200,000, which is less than Ic an 

 acre for the area guarded, although nearly 

 a two cents per acre charge on contributing 

 holdings. About 475 regular patrolmen were 

 employed. Hundreds of miles of trail and 

 telephone line were built. 



Hon. W. R. Ross. 



Hon. W. R. Ross, Minister of Lands for 

 British Columbia, dealt in some detail with 

 the work of the B. C. Forest Branch. Pro- 

 bably seventy per cent, of British Colum- 

 bia 's two hundred and fifty million acres, 

 he said, was under some kind of timber. 

 Timber was destined to be the greatest crop 

 that could be raised in the province, and 

 since the bulk of the forest land was Crown 

 property and the chief source of public 

 revenue (yielding three million dollars an- 

 nually) the protection of the forest and 

 the most scientific method of obtaining rev- 

 enue from it, were two of the most im- 

 portant functions of the Government. Eight 

 and one-half million acres of the forest lands 

 had been placed under a license system which 

 calleil for payment by the operator at the 

 time when the principles of modern forest 

 finance require that it should be paid, name- 

 ly, when the timber crop was cut and mar- 

 keted. 



He believed that they had in British Col- 

 vmibia an almost ideal method of co-opera- 

 tion between Government and private inter- 

 ests, in the form of the forest protection 

 fund an<l the organization that the fund 

 had rendered possible in the province. Dur- 

 ing the past year over one hundreil and 

 fifty million acres of the total area of Bri- 

 tish Columbia had been placed under some 

 form of protection. They had maintained 

 over this area a skeleton organization capa- 

 ble of being recruited to any extent that fire 

 danger might require. Under the excellent 

 weather conditions during 1913 the eleven 

 forest districts had been provided with 

 thirty rangers, and two hundred and eighty 

 guards and patrol men ; another one hun- 

 dred men being at their call at short notice 

 if requireil. This force had experienced no 

 difficulty in controlling the situation, for, 

 though nearly six hundred fires had been re- 

 ported, three out of every four had been 

 extinguished without extra cost. Full use 

 had been made of this favourable situation. 

 Numbers of the men had ben drafted to im- 

 provement work. Fire fighting had cost 

 only $9,000. Patrol expenses involved $190.- 

 000. Out of the total fund for the year, 

 amounting to $350,000, they therefore had 

 an ample balance for construction work. The 

 department had thus been able to construct 

 since August, 1913, 1,000 miles of horse 

 trails, 168 miles of foot trail and 360 miles 

 of telephone line, 10 cabins and 10 mountain 

 lookout stations, the cost of these being 

 $67,000. 



Fire Fighting. 



Mr. H. S. Graves. Chief Forester of the 

 United States, owing to illness in his faniiiy, 

 was prevented from attending, but his paper 

 was read by Secretary Cornwall. In it Mr. 

 Graves stated that fires could be extinguish- 

 ed both in normal and in dry seasons liv 

 making adequate preparations and having an 

 adequate staff. He urged the fullest co- 

 operation between federal and state authori- 

 ties and private owners. 



In the discussion which followed, the lum- 

 bermen were generally favourable to the 

 fullest co-operation. Throughout there was a 

 strong testimony to the efficacy of oil-burn- 

 ing engines in preventing the setting of 

 fires. Equally strong was the condemnation 

 of smoking in the wooils by employees, and 

 several of the leading operators held that 

 it would be just as easy to prohibit smoking 

 in the bush as it was in the coal mines. 



There was an animated discussion on 



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