8 



Canadian Forestry Journal, January, 1914 



Dominion railway's. The situation along 

 Government railways had shown marked 

 iniproveemnt during the year, but much 

 remained to be done before the system 

 would be as intensive as that now required 

 on lines subject to the Railway Commis- 

 sion. The suggestion had been made to 

 the Minister of Railways and was now 

 under his consideration, that the Govern- 

 ment railways be placed under the regula- 

 tions of the Railway Commission. 



Forestry on Dominion Timber Berths. 



In discussing 'Forestry on Dominion 

 Timber Berths,' Mr. Sifton said: 



'Duriag the past summer a tention has been 

 given to forest conditions on the public domain 

 in Alberta, >Saskatche\van and Manitoba and the 

 Railway Belt of British Columbia. In this work 

 particular a tention was paid to the matter of 

 fire prevention through brush disposal, and to 

 the question of securing a natural reproduction 

 of the forest through control of the methods of 

 cutting. In addition to certain technical fea- 

 tures, the question of organization is involved, 

 owing to the fact that jurisdicion of the timber 

 lands of the Dominion Government is divided be- 

 tween three separate branches of the Department 

 of the Interior. 



'As to the timber berths, responsibility rests 

 upon the Timber and Grazing Branch, which is 

 to a large extent in practice, a fiscal organiza ion, 

 charged with such work as the collection of reve- 

 nue, the prevention of trespass and the admin- 

 istration of grazing leases. 



'The question of brush disposal as a fire pre- 

 ventive measure, and of so controlling the methods 

 of cutting as to ensure the ])erpetuation of the 

 forest, are the principal technical features of 

 present-day forestry practice. Provision for these 

 matters is made in the licenses covering all timber 

 berths, but, unfortunately, none of the Iranches 

 of the Departments having to do with Forests 

 have at work a sufficient staff of trained men to 

 enforce these provisions. The Crown Timl er 

 Agents and their office staffs are obviously un- 

 able to devote any personal at ention to these 

 matters in the field. The Inspectors under the 

 Crown Timber Agents are the only men upon 

 whom this work can fall under the present plan 

 of organization. Of these, there are one at New 

 Westminster, one at Kamloops, one at Calgary, 

 si.x at Edmonton, four at Prince .Vlbert, and five 

 at Winnipeg. The time of these men has pre- 

 viously been fully occupied with the duties regu- 

 larly incident to their positions, and it is hope'.ess 

 to expect that anything like adequate results can 

 be accomplished by trying to impose upon these 

 already fully occupied men the responsibility for 

 the enforcement of the technical forestry provi- 

 sions of the licenses. These provisions have not 

 been enforced in the past on the licensed timber 

 berths, nor can they by any possibilitv be enforced 

 without the appointment of skilled of^cers especial- 

 ly charged with this duty. Thus we have the 

 anomalous situation of a lack of technical super- 

 vision of logging operations upon lands con ain- 

 ing the greater quantity of the accessible mer- 

 chantable timber which is now the propertv of the 

 Dominion Government. 



'The particular way in which the remedv should 

 be worked out is, of course, strictly a " Depart- 

 mental matter. The main considera'tion is that 

 the results ought to be accomplished in some 

 ■way. 



'The above remarks are not intended, and 

 should not be considered, as an unfriendlv criti- 

 cism. The situation simply appears to be that 

 no effective provision for the administration of 

 forestrj' regulations upon the timber berths of the 

 public domain has yet been made. As a result, 

 the protec'ion and perpetuation of the forest upon 

 the best timbered areas, both within and outside 

 the forest reserves and parks, is most seriouslv 

 endangered. 



'While this is the case it gives me pleasure to 

 draw attention to the excellent work of the same 

 Department in connection with o'her branches of 

 forestry work, the care of reserves, prevention of 

 fire and the encouragement of tree planting. 

 There seems no reason to doubt that the officers 

 of the Department will make effective use of any 

 powers bestowed upon them. 



Permanence of Forest Service. 



'Following the last annual meeting, representa- 

 tions were made to the Dominion and Provincial 

 Governments favouring the extension of the merit 

 system of appointment in forestry and fire-pro- 

 tection work. 



'I regret to say that as yet very little has been 

 done toward carrying out the recommendations 

 made. With regard to this measure it is essential 

 that the Commission should not cease to reiterate 

 its views. Whatever may be said of other branches 

 of the service, it is an unquestionable fact that 

 not even a moderate degree of efficiency and 

 economy can be a'tained in forest service without 

 a permanent and specially trained staff. 



'It frequently happens that men appointed in 

 the ordinary political method from business life 

 make very good officers while they have to deal 

 only with collection of revenue and with what has 

 heretofore been considered the usual work of a 

 Crown Timber Officer, but, as fire rangers and 

 supervisors of forestry regulations, such men are, 

 when first appointed, absolutely useless. They 

 will learn if they devote themselves to the work 

 and stay long enough in' one position, but at best 

 such a system is extravagant and inefficient. 



'.A.t this stage of our work the prime necessity 

 is to get the Governments of the Dominion and 

 the Provinces to place the forestry staffs upon a 

 permanent basis providing for appointment and 

 promotion only for merit and qualification through 

 the Civil Service Commission.' 



Other Forestry Work. 



The other items on the program directly 

 referring to forest conservation were as 

 follows: — 'Work of the Committee on 

 Forests,' bv Mr. CIvde Leavitt; 'Forestry 

 Work in the Trent Watershed,' by Dr. B. 

 E. Fernow, and ' Work of the Dominion 

 Forestry Branch,' by Mr. R. H. Campbell. 

 Mr. Leavitt 's paper was a review of the 

 work of the year on the lines of his report 

 for 1912, which was reviewed in the 

 Journal last month, and a report of this 

 will be printed later. 



Dr. B. E. Fernow, dean of the Faculty 

 of Forestry of Toronto University, in his 

 report on the Trent watershed, showed the 

 serious consequences which have followed 

 the agricultural settlement of a district 

 which, for the most jtart, was essentially 

 non-agricultural in character. The soil 

 having cjuickly become impoverished from 

 cultivation, the people who remained on 

 the poorer lands were existing under 

 undesirable economic conditions. Repeated 

 fires had destroyed a young growth having 

 a potential stumpage value of millions of 

 dollars, besides facilitating erosion and so 

 changing the composition of the forest 

 that its possible futui'e value was greatly 

 decreased. 



Moreover, the destruction of the forest 

 had had a very detrimental effect on the 

 water supply of the Trent Canal. This 

 was a question of serious import to the 

 Dominion Government, which had already 

 spent something like $10,000,000 on the 

 canal project. The provincial government 



