Forestry Mailers Before the Cummission of Conservation 



23 



MR R. H. CAMPBELL, DIRECTOR OF 

 FORESTRY. 



The Year 1914 Compared With 1910. 



Mr. R. II. Cainjibell, Doininiou Director 

 of Forestry, ooiiti'iiiliiifj that fires would 

 continue for some years to be the great 

 «nemy of forests in Canada, compared the 

 year 1914 with tlie nearest previous dry 

 year, 1910. In 1910, 1,227 tires were re- 

 ported, on Dominion territory, covering 

 :{4.o,()()0 acres and burning 18;"i,350,000 feet, 

 board measure, of merchantable timber. 

 One continuous fire in the foothills of the 

 Rockies covered 494 square miles. The 

 number of rangers on the reserves was 

 20 and outside, 107. Then, on the reserves, 

 such improvements as roads and trails ha^l 

 only been begun and there was no thorough 

 system of inspection along railways. 



Mr. R. U. Campbell. 



In 1914, 1,406 fires were reported over an 

 area of 4.{8,567 acres, destroying 350,000,- 

 «00 feet of lumber. The staff on th.> 

 reserves had increased to 142 and their 

 "whole efforts were strained. (The area 

 had increas<^d from 2,72;'».3r)0 acres to 23,- 

 024,«4(i a.rcsi. The result in 1914 seemed 

 worse than in 1910, in spite of improve- 

 ments in roads and equipment, but this 

 was due to two bad fires in the Rockies, 

 where the road and trail system had not 

 been worked out and which accounted for 

 four-fifths of the damage. 



Of the known causes of forest fires, set- 

 tlers took first place, especially outside of 

 reserves: railwavs followed closelv and 



campers came third. These causes showed 

 how imjtrovemeut should bo worked out. 



In 1910, the roads and fire guards 

 amounted to only 144 miles. There were 

 now 300 miles of roads within the 

 reserves, 1,249 miles of trails, r>00 miles of 

 tire guarils ploughed, 400 miles of fire 

 guards cut and 2o0 miles of telephone lines. 

 An improvement in the trails waa accom- 

 I)lished by carrying out a system of 

 |)rimary, secondary and third class trails, 

 the first of these being niain lines and as 

 well built as the roads. Telephone service, 

 which is very effective, waa brought to 

 the highest point of efficiency on the 

 Hiding Mountain reserve in Manitoba, 

 where it reaches every ranger district. In 

 the last year or two the lookout tower sys- 

 tem had been established to the number of 

 eighteen. Another big im[»rovement over 

 1910, when every ranger lived outside the 

 reserve, was that, now, practically all live 

 on the reserves. Some 27 houses anil 63 

 cabins were built for this purpose. Again, 

 in 1910 the jiatrol carried out along rail- 

 ways, in operation ami under construc- 

 tion by the Department, was almost the 

 only protection against fire. Now, not only 

 has the system by the forest service, under 

 the chief inspector of the Dominion Hail- 

 way Board, been well ilcveloped, and a 

 special staff appointed for it, but the regu- 

 lations of the Board have been much more 

 thorough and responsibility has been 

 placed on the railways. The results for 

 the year on most of the lines were grati- 

 fying. 



But no mechanical aids could take the 

 place of the proper spirit among the men 

 engaged in the work. And the spirit dis- 

 ])layed by the staff was better than in 1910. 

 The work wa.s more intelligently directed, 

 with better results. An example of con- 

 scientious work was afforded in the fiise 

 of one ranger, who though ill with dysen- 

 tery and living on water alone, fought fire 

 three days and three nights, continuously. 



Mr. Campbell concluded by mentioning 

 four things which he considered essential 

 to an adequate forest policy: 



1 — Development of the forest reserve > 

 policy to include all non-agricultural lands 

 and completing the fire protective service. 



2 — Teaching the value of the forest from 

 the business point of view. The forest h.'id 

 been regarded too much from the romantic 

 or aesthetic side. \ 



3 — Infusing the jtroper spirit of public 

 service "into the organization. Officers I 

 whose duties were of a permanent nature 

 should be ensured that if they <lid their 

 duty efficiently they would be continued 

 in service. 



4 — Legislation should be provided by the 

 other provincial governments, similar to 

 that in force in British Columbia, giving 



