204 



Canadian Forestry Journal, September, ipij. 



PROBLEM OF SLASH DISPOSAL 



(Continued from page 196.) 



during the periods of early railway con- 

 struction, relatively little attention was 

 paid to the matter of safe disposal of 

 inflammable debris resulting from con- 

 struction work and from the annual 

 growth, on rights of way, of vegetation 

 such as grass, weeds, brush, etc. As a 

 result, many large and destructive fires 

 occurred, due to various causes, such as 

 locomotive sparks, coals dropped from 

 ash-pans, carelessness of railway em- 

 ployees and tramps, cigars and cigarettes 

 thrown from moving trains, etc. How- 

 ever, the Railway Act has for years re- 

 quired that the railways maintain their 

 rights of way in a condition free from 

 dead or dry grass, weeds and other un- 

 necessary combustible matter. During 

 the past few years, especially marked 

 improvement has been made in the con- 

 dition of railway rights of way, and the 

 fire hazard has been correspondingly 

 decreased. However, the hazard is by 

 no means eliminated altogether, on ac- 

 count of the large amount of inflam- 

 mable debris still remaining on lands 

 immediatel}' adjoining railway property. 

 Such lands include settlers' clearings, 

 timber limits, unlicensed crown lands, 

 and privately-owned forest lands, on 

 none of which has really adequate pro- 

 vision been made as yet for the protec- 

 tion of the public interest through re- 

 duction of the fire hazard. In other 

 words, in none of these cases has even 

 an approximation to the same degree of 

 efliciency in reducing the fire hazard yet 

 been secured as in the case of railway 

 rights of way. 



(b). Settlers' Clearings. Practically 

 everyone (except the settlers directly 

 concerned) now recognizes that it is un- 

 desirable to permit settlement on lands 

 where the soil is not suitable for the 

 permanent production of agricultural 

 forest lands have been permitted to be 

 settled in the past, and the practice is 

 not even yet altogether stopped, largely 

 on account of local political pressure. 

 Aside from the direct injustice done lim- 

 it-holders, and the fact that such set- 

 tlers cannot make a decent living from 

 their lands after the timber is gone, the 

 practice of permitting such settlements 

 is directly contrary to good public policy, 

 on account of the great increase in the 

 danger of fire spreading to adjoining 

 timber lands. This danger exists also 

 in forested sections where settlement is 



entirely legitimate, and is due in both 

 cases to the widespread carelessness of 

 settlers in disposing of their clearing 

 debris by burning at unsafe times. 



Getting After Settlers. 



The province of Quebec has a law forbidding 

 Ihe burning of settlers' slashings during certain 

 periods of the year, except vipon permit issued by 

 a forest office. However, the provision for the 

 enforcement of this act is inadequate, on account 

 of insufficient appropriations for personnel, and 

 on account of the difficulty in securing convic- 

 tions for the offender, or from political inter- 

 ference.. 



The government of Xew Brunswick has re- 

 cently improved the situation in that province 

 throufh the issuance of a regulation prohibiting 

 the burning of settlers' slashings in the settle- 

 ments of Hazen and Grimmer, except upon per- 

 mit from a forest officer. This provision should,, 

 however, be extended to the remaining forest 

 sections of the firovince, and adequate personnel 

 should be provided to make it effective. 



In Ontario, there seems to be practically no 

 control over settlers' burning operations, and as 

 a result many serious fires have occurred, causing 

 the loss of quite a number of lives, as well as of 

 probably several millions of dollars worth of tim- 

 ber and other property. There would seem to be 

 no good reason why settlers' slash-burning opera- 

 tions in Ontaiio should not be closely supervised, 

 with either the establishment of a closed season 

 or of a peimit system. The necessity for such 

 action is fully recognized in British Columbia^ 

 where a permit system is in effect, as well as in 

 Quebec and a section of New Brunswick. The 

 same is also true of the Dominion forest re- 

 serves in the west. 



Undoubtedly, the lumbermen, both individually 

 and through their various organizations, could. 

 assist materially in hastening the day when action 

 will be taken to remedy the defects to which at- 

 tention is called above. Various agencies, in- 

 cluding the Commission of Conservation and the 

 Canadian Forestry Association, have made re- 

 peated representations along these lines, but such 

 reforms come slowly, and continuous pressure 

 from all available sources is apparently needed. 

 A general demand from the public will usually 

 be heeded, while, without it, action may be slow 

 in coming. 



Menace of Road Slash. 



(c). Road Slash. The provinces generally have 

 recognized the fact that slash resulting from 

 wagon road construction in forest sections con- 

 stitutes a serious fire menace, if allowed to re- 

 main piled up along the roadway. Especially 

 during recent years, provision has usually been 

 made for the pilin.g and burning of such debris^ 

 at the time that construction has been under way, 

 care being taken to prevent the spread of the 

 resulting fires to adjacent timber lands. As to 

 debris along old roads, the situation is generally- 

 less satisfactory, and it will require years to 

 remedy this condition. The above is cited as one 

 more example of recognition that inflammable 

 debris in forest sections constitutes a distinct 

 menace to the public interest, and that measures 

 for its abatement are fully justified. 



|d). Lumbering Slash. No one will deny that 

 lumbering slash constitutes a very serious fire 



