Dominion Forestry Branch Work. 



Salient Points from the Report of the Dominion Director of Forestry for 1913 



The Forestry Branch of the Department 

 of the Interior, Canada, has charge of all 

 the forest reserves in the three prairie pro- 

 vinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Al- 

 berta and in the Railway Belt in British 

 Columbia. This latter is a strip of land 

 forty miles wide, twenty miles on each siile 

 of the main line of the Canadian Pacific 

 Railway deeded to the Dominion by — e Pro- 

 vince of British Columbia when the province 

 joined the Confederation of the Canadian 

 Provinces. The work has now grown very 

 large, and the report makes a volume of 

 136 pages. This report covers the calendar 

 year 1912, and its contents will, perhaps, be 

 best understood by giving the leading points 

 of the report of the Director, Mr. R. H. 

 Campbell, supplemented by points from the 

 reports of his assistants. These follow : 



Appropriations. 



Total appropriation for fiscal year 1912- 

 13, $362,500 ; among the chief items were: 



Management of Forest Reserves, $169,000. 



Fire Ranging,, $99,000. 



Tree Planting, $49,500. 



Forest Surveys, $13,000. 



The revenue from settlers' permits to cut 

 timber and hay, and for grazing, was 

 $23,000. 



Note. — It ■'<hoHld he noted tluit another 

 Branch of the Department of the Interior 

 eollects the revenue from licensed berths 

 outside the Forest Reserves, and from berths 

 inside the Eeserves which were licensed prior 

 to the estuhlishment of the reserve system. 

 The collections of this branch, the Timber 

 and Grazing Branch, for the- year 1912 were 

 $434,000. 



Statistics. 



One of the important duties of the Do- 

 nunion Forestry Branch is the collecting and 

 pul)lishing of timber and forest proilucts 

 statistics for the whole Dominion. The fig- 

 ures for 1912 are: 



Lumber, lath and shingles . . . .$ 84,000 000 



Firewood 50,000',000 



Pulpwood 12,000,000 



Posts and rails 10,000,000 



Cross-ties 8,000,000 



Square timber exported 1,900,000 



Cooperage 1,700,000 



Poles 1,200,000 



Logs exporte.l 1,100,000 



Tanning material 1,000,000 



Round mining timber 600,000 



Miscellaneous exports 300,000 



:\nscel]anoous products 10,500,000 



Total $172,300,000 



Tree Planting. 



ill 19U0 the Forestry Branch inaugurated 

 the plan of supplying tree cuttings and tree 

 yeedlings free to prairie farmers, on condi- 

 tion of their jjaying the express charges and 

 prei^aring and cultivating the soil of the 

 plantations. This work has grown so that 

 a second nursery station, in addition to the 

 main station at Indian Head, Saskatchewan, 

 has been opened near Saskatoon. 



Trees distributed to settlers in 1912, 

 2,729,135. 



Number of applicants .receiving trees, 

 3,618. 



Total number of trees distributed since 

 establishment of the nursery station, 21,- 

 650,660 



Note. — The United States Forest Service 

 after e.rctniining the Canadian system of dis- 

 tribution of trees to settlers has decided to 

 adopt it. 



Forest Reserves. 



Organization. Reserves are divided into 

 four districts with an inspector over each. 

 Three of these districts correspond with the 

 lirovinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and 

 Alberta, and the fourth comprises the Rail- 

 way Belt in British Columbia. 



Permanent officers: District inspectors, 

 4 ; supervisors, 12 ; forest assistants, 4 ; for- 

 est rangers, 46. 



Area of Dominion Forest Reserves and 

 Parks was in 1912 25,201 sq. miles, divided 

 as follows: Alberta, 18,564; Saskatchewan, 

 937 sq. miles; Manitoba, 3,585 sq. miles; 

 British Columlsia, 2,115. 



Note. — These 'figures have increased in 

 1913 (Did 1914 until now the total area in 

 forest reserves and parks is 43,802 sq. miles, 

 as follows: Alberta, 26,271; Saskatchewan, 

 9,681; Manitoba, 4,027; and Brtish Colum- 

 bia 3,778. 



The improvements on the reserves for the 

 year were: ranger houses built, 10; stables, 



116 



