Canadian Forestry Journal, September, ipij. 



203 



FOREST FIRE SITUATION 



The year 1915 promises to con- 

 tinue its normal record of forest fire 

 conflagrations in Eastern Canada 

 and the prairie provinces. Reports 

 made to "The Canadian Forestry 

 Journal" from the various parts of 

 the Dominion indicate that frequent 

 rainfalls and the promise of further 

 showers, as prophesied by the 

 weather bureaus, w^ill give safe pas- 

 sage through the usual Fall period 

 of fire risk. 



Some bad fires have been reported 

 from the Mackenzie River valley, 

 where merchantable timber and 

 much young growth exists. Details 

 of the damage are lacking at the pre- 

 sent time. Outside of this instance, 

 the prairie provinces have had the 

 protection of favorable weather for 

 more than a month past. 



Outbreaks in Northern Ontario 

 and Quebec, reports say, have been 

 few and confined to small areas. 



Victoria, B.C.. Sept. 6, 1915:— 

 Fifty-five fires have been reported 

 this season, some sixty acres in all 

 having burned over, with damage to 



rather less than three hundred thou- 

 sand feet of standing timber. Ten 

 of these outbreaks affecting twenty 

 acres, and damaging about two- 

 thirds of the timber mentioned, were 

 due to lightning. Hot, dry, windy 

 weather for the past few months 

 rendered the position one of great 

 hazard, and it is a tribute to the effi- 

 ciency of the fire-wardens that the 

 losses and fire fighting expenditures 

 have been kept within comparatively 

 small limits. The splendid spirit of 

 co-operation existent throughout this 

 large district has been a valuable 

 asset, several instances having oc- 

 curred of settlers walking or riding 

 many miles in order to report the 

 outbreak of a fire. 



Land-clearing by settlers has been 

 extensively undertaken this year, 

 and good crops are reported general- 

 ly, especially in view of the fact that 

 many areas are virgin ground, and 

 have been broken up for the first 

 time this year. 



Fires have been mainly confined 

 to slashings, with attendant damage 

 to logging camps in a few cases. 



GREAT DEMAND FOR BOOKLET 



"Twenty Canadian Trees," a book- 

 let of twenty-four pages issued by 

 the Canadian Forestry Association 

 for general distribution, has now 

 reached a circulation of close to five- 

 thousand copies. 



Requests have come from every 

 quarter of the Dominion during the 

 past six weeks, testifying to a very 

 live interest among the people of 

 Canada upon such points as the 

 identification of trees, a knowledge 

 of the uses to which woods are put, 

 and other questions briefly but suffi- 

 ciently treated in the booklet. 



Arrangements have been made so 

 that future editions can be provided 

 for school boards, or philanthropic 

 individuals who may desire to dis- 

 tribute copies to pupils in the public 

 schools, churches, etc., at $2.00 per 

 hundred, or if bought in lots of a 

 thousand, $1.50 per hundred. It is 

 believed that many members of the 

 Association may like to secure one- 

 hundred or more for personal distri- 

 bution. Individual copies will, of 

 course, be supplied by the Secretary 

 without charge to all who send in a 

 request. 



