Canadian Forestry Journal, January, ipi6. 



343 



30% of the district was under this 

 type, but, owing to fires the per- 

 centage has dropped to from 10% 

 to 15%. 



The amount of commercial timber 

 in the Spruce type is small," the for- 

 est being almost entirely a produc- 

 tion forest. It is permanent if not 

 disturbed by fire. 



Lodgepole Type. — This type oc- 

 cupies the areas of higher elevations, 

 plateaux and mountain sides from 

 3,000 feet to 5.500 feet. It covers 

 probably 20% of the area of the dis- 

 trict, and is gradually widening, due 

 to repeated fires, at the expense of 

 the Spruce and Fir types. 



The type is composed of Lodge- 

 pole Pine, Alpine Fir, and Aspen 

 with a mixture on the lower levels 

 of Fir and sometimes Yellow Pine. 

 Better moisture conditions are re- 

 c|uired than in the Fir types, though 

 less than in the Spruce. 



Reproduction after fire is abun- 

 dant and sure, until about the fourth 

 and fifth burn when a barren is cre- 

 ated. The second growth is often so 

 dense, that reproduction is poor 

 though in the more open stands 

 Spruce and Douglas Fir reproduc- 

 tion is well represented. As these 

 latter species are longer lived than 

 the Lodgepole Pine, and originally 

 occupied the sites where Lodgepole 

 Pine is now predominant, it is prob- 

 able, that given time the Lodgepole 

 Pine will be replaced to a large ex- 

 tent, by the original stands of Fir 

 and Spruce. 



The type is at present occupying 

 entire watersheds. The stand aver- 

 ages somewhat less than 2.000 feet 

 per acre, and therefore we must 

 classify the type as mainly a protec- 

 tion forest. 



There are. of course, several other 

 types in the district, but these are of 

 very little importance commerciallv 

 or for protection of the watersheds. 



Relative Importance. 

 In discussing the importance of 

 these four types they naturally di- 

 vide themselves into two groups of 



Fir stand, Okanagan Valley. 



two each. viz. : Under commercial 

 forests, the Yellow Pine and Fir 

 types and under Protection Forests, 

 the Spruce and Lodgepole Pine 

 types. 



The former contain practically the 

 entire stand of commercial timber in 

 the District, amounting to some 

 1,584.187 M feet board measure, dis- 

 tributed over an area of 521,200 

 acres. 



The non-commercial or Protection 

 Forests in the Okanagan cover ap- 

 proximatelv 1.374.300 acres and have 

 a total stand of nearly 2,078,000 M. 

 feet board measure. Of this large 

 area of non-commercial forest land, 

 providing proper protection from 

 fire we can expect that 25% to 50% 

 will eventually turn into commer- 

 cial forest through the return of the 

 permanent Fir and Spruce types, 

 and the present stand of Spruce 

 through a longer lease of life will 

 yield a large per cent, of commer- 

 cial timber. 



