Canadian Forestry Journal^. January, ipid. 



345 



gation, power and domestic users. 

 This represents an actual invest- 

 ment of capital of many millions of 

 dollars. Irrigation flumes and dit- 

 ches, power plants, city water sys- 

 tems, all represent a large invest- 

 ment and all are dependent upon the 

 maintenance of a good forest cover 

 on the watersheds to supply streams 

 fod their continued usefulness. 



An idea of the amount involved 

 can be had by capitalizing at 5% in- 

 terest, the annual income from agri- 

 culture, which so dependent upon 

 irrigation. The total annual value, 

 we said, was $2,000,000. At 5 % the 

 capital value of this would be $40,- 

 000.000. This much money is not 

 actually invested in irrigation pro- 

 jects but it is invested in farms, 

 fruit trees, homes, etc., which are all 

 dependent upon the continuance of 

 the water supply and which all con- 

 tribute to the earning of the annual 

 income of $2,000,000 or more. There- 

 fore, I think it is fair to say that the 

 forest cover on the watersheds of the 

 Okanagan represent a total value of 

 $40,000,000 or more for irrigation 

 alone. 



If the value of the water supply 

 to the cities and towns, power plants 

 and private individuals is also fig- 

 ured the amount involved would 

 reach a tremendous sum. 



Forest Protection. 



The immediate problems thus 

 confronting the Forest Branch in the 

 Okanagan are mainly protective. 

 The highly inflammable state of the 

 majority of the watersheds, and 

 their importance, make it imperative 

 that great care be taken to keep fire 

 out. Fire hazard in other localities 

 in not excessive and the danger re- 

 sulting not so large; they need, 

 therefore, less attention. 



Happily we are blessed with an 

 excellent system of roads and trails, 

 thus facilitating communication and 

 guaranteeing quick access to fires. 

 So far, however, full advantage has 

 not been taken of this system, in the 

 matter of suitable conveyances, but 



we are now coming to a stage in our 

 development where we can advance 

 no further till the best means of 

 transportation on the roads, auto- 

 mobiles, are used. 



(a) Prevention. — Since the For- 

 est Act was passed in 1912, an active 

 campaign has been carried on for 

 care with fires, through the agency 

 of posters, whetstones with suitable 

 inscriptions, newspaper articles, 

 slides for motion picture theatres, 

 etc. Personal appeal by the Forest 

 Officers has also played a large part 

 in the propaganda. 



The permit system as administer- 

 ed in B. C. is one of the best means 

 of keeping down the fires, and re- 

 sults in the Okanagan have been en- 

 tirely satisfactory. By this system 

 we not only have all slash burnings 

 examined by Forest Officers but the 

 Officers come in contact with the 

 largest proportion of the forest 

 users, and have an excellent chance 

 to put forward the cause of forest 

 protection. 



In the endeavor to enlist all par- 

 ties in our work co-operation has 

 been arranged with railway em- 

 ployees, stage drivers, logging and 

 saw mill foremen, mine managers 

 and superintendents, telephone com- 

 panies, storekeepers, and many pri- 

 vate individuals who have a chance 

 to aid. Besides these an agreement 

 has been drawn up between the Do- 

 minion Service in the Railway Belt 

 and the Provincial Service, covering 

 fires burning near the boundaries of 

 their respective districts. On the 

 south the officers of the U. S. For- 

 est Service have signified their will- 

 ingness to co-operate along the in- 

 ternational line, and, next year, I 

 believe, will see the beginning of a 

 working agreement with them. 



Lookout Stations. 

 (b) Detection.— So far the Okan- 

 agan has been fairly well supplied 

 with detection facilities. The two 

 most important watersheds, viz. : 

 Vernon and Kelowna are provided 

 with lookout stations with telephone 



