Reconnaissance Forest Surveys 



Object of Such Surveys and How Much Has Been Done in Canada Explained by Mr. 

 H. Claughton Wallin — Canada Should Become the Greatest Timber- 

 exporting Country in the World. 



A iloparturo in rofjard to tochiiit a! mat- 

 ters was made in the head ofliie of the 

 dominion Forestry Branch at Ottawa, 

 when, on March 2(5, Mr. H. Chui<!;hton 

 Wallin, Chief of Surveys, read a i>aper on 

 " Keconnaissance" before the technical 

 staff of the branch. 



Mr. R. II. Campbell, Director of Fores- 

 try, explained at the oiionintj that the ob- 

 ject of these j>apers and discussions was 

 to keep the officers of the different ]>arts 

 of the work in touch with one another, so 

 that all would be informed of the work 

 and aims of other sections than those in 

 which they worked, that all the work 

 might be related and move forward with 

 the greatest deffroe of efficiency. 



Objects of Reconnaissance Surveys. 



Mr. Wallin 's paper will doubtless ap- 

 pear in technical journals but some of the 

 salient points, which enforce the lessons 

 of forest conservation, are deeme<l too per- 

 tinent not to be printed in the Canadian 

 Fon'strii Journal. 



Mr. Wallin pointed out in the first place 

 that the objects of reconnaissance surveys 

 are to procure information as to the value 

 of the lanils examined in relation to agri- 

 culture and as sources of water or timljer 

 supply, and to determine the advisability 

 of recommending them for inclusion in 

 forest reserves. 



Dangers of Ill-directed Settlement. 



Mr. Wallin showed that now the prairie 

 lan<ls were liecoming settled, settlers were 

 pushing out into the wooded country. The 

 first settlement generally occupied fertile 

 lands but as the river bottoms and lands 

 surrounding lakes were taken up the set- 

 tlers stuck out into the country surround- 

 ing, and in many cases located on lands, 

 which because of their rocky, hilly, or sandy 

 nature were not capaVde of supporting their 

 owners ilecently. Many new settlers were 

 not farmers but city men who did not un- 

 ilerstand soil values. Hence there was the 

 greater reason for the examination of 

 lands in advance of settlement to prevent 

 these uninformed people locating on 'and 

 which they would either abandon in a few 

 years to return to city life, or continue to 

 eke out an existence by working for sev- 

 eral months each year for their neigh- 

 bors in the fertile districts. Thus the man 

 wouhl not be of his full value to the coun- 

 try, and the 160 acres of land he had home- 

 steaded instead of increasing in value 

 would be deteriorating because the young 

 timber which it couM grow if left alone 



wdiilcj lie taken off in useless clearing or 

 burned by fires started accidentally or in- 

 tentionally. 



To Increase Agricultural Prosperity. 



Thus one object of the reconnaissance 

 survey was to increase the prosperity of 

 agriculture in Canada by withdrawing un- 

 snitalde bands from settlement and an- 

 other was to j)rotect the timlier sui)ply 

 and, in direct consequence of this, to main- 

 tain a stable flow in the watercourses, by 

 ])lacing absolute forest lands and stands 

 of timber in forest reserves where they 

 would be protected from fire and trespass. 



Policy of the Dominion Government. 



Tlie ])olicy of the Dominion Government 

 was that lands which were unsuited to 

 agriculture but were important watersheds, 

 or valuable to the adjacent community or 

 the country as a whole on account of their 

 timber resources, should be inclutled in 

 forest reserves for the jnirpose of ensuring 

 regulation of stream flow and a perpetual 

 supply of timber. 



There were two kinds of forest reserves 

 in the West, tho.'^e in well-populated districts 

 and those in rough mountainous ilistricts, 

 or the unsettled and unsurveyed regions 

 north of the prairies. The reserves in 

 populated districts consisted of sandy, 

 more or less timbered, hilly country, sur- 

 rounded by settled agricultural land. Such 

 districts were comjiaratively few and it 

 was imj)ortant that land of this charac- 

 ter be devoteil to the growing of timber 

 to relieve the need for firewood, fence 

 posts, anil small building timber which 

 was always felt in tlie treeless prairies. 



Dispel Wrong Ideas. 



Mr. Wallin jiointed to the duty of the 

 officer in charge of the survey to acquaint 

 himself with the views held l)y settlers in 

 the vicinity of the proposed reservation, 

 lie shouhl ex[)lain that the creation of the 

 reserve meant the protection of timber, 

 grazing and water supply for the farmer 

 iiimself. The erroneous iilea that the ob- 

 ject of a forest reserve was to jirevent the 

 "poor man" getting his supply nf fuel 

 and timber should be dispelled 



One Hundred Thousand Miles Surveyed. 



The lecturer then went on to explain in 

 detail the instructions given the officers 

 in charge for prosecuting their work. Af- 

 ter dealing with this he saiil that since 

 1909 the Dominion Forestry Branch had 

 jdaced in the field ?A reconnaissance par- 



ol 



