Canadian Forestry Journal, March, ipi6. 



427 



Silvicultural Problems of Forest 

 " Reserves ^^^^^ 



The Main Business to Provide for the Future — Dominion 

 Government the Logical ControlHng Power. 



By 



Dr. B. E. Fernozv, 



Dean, Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto. 



Last summer, through the cour- 

 tesy of the Director of the Dominion 

 Forestry Branch, and in his com- 

 pany, I had the privilege of inspect- 

 ing conditions in some of the Dom- 

 inion Forest Reserves in the prairie 

 provinces and of some parts of the 

 Rocky Mountain Reserves. 



This inspection was made with a 

 view of enabling me, as chairman of 

 the newly established Advisory 

 Board of the Forestry Branch, to 

 formulate propositions for investi- 

 gatory work as a basis for an even- 

 tual technical management of the 

 Reserves. 



While ten weeks travel can, to be 

 sure, give only a very superficial 

 insight into conditions and prob- 

 lems, contact with actualities and 

 intercourse with the men in charge 

 permits at least a judgment of the 

 general requirements in the admin- 

 istration and management of these 

 properties. 



The practical wisdom of inaugur- 

 ating the forest reserve policy 

 would, I believe, be admitted by any 

 one on general principles, but by 

 him who visits the reservations and 

 secures even only a slight acquain- 

 tance with the actual conditions sur- 

 rounding them, any doubts as to the 

 wisdom in each particular case will 

 vanish, and the conviction will be 



strengthened not only that these re- 

 servations should become or remain 

 without question permanent, but 

 that they should be added to, and 

 also that they should remain under 

 the control of the Dominion, which 

 can much better than the provinces 

 afford to carry the burden of the 

 dead work that must be done to 

 make these properties serve their 

 object, namely to furnish continu- 

 ous wood supplies to the surround- 

 ing settlements. The visitor will 

 also realize, that to fulfill their func- 

 tion, namely to furnish wood sup- 

 plies, a systematic technical manage- 

 ment is a more or less urgent neces- 

 sity and should be inaugurated as 

 early as possible upon the basis of 

 carefully prepared working plans. 



N'eed of Technical Men. 



So far, in the minds of the public 

 not only, but of officials as well, the 

 problem of the forest reserves has 

 appeared of the same nature as that 

 of the mere administration of tim- 

 berlands ; so far, indeed, hardly more 

 than a timberland administration 

 has been attempted, albeit with a 

 somewhat more conservative dis- 

 posal of available supplies. Of the 

 practice of forestry, the technical 

 art, there is as yet hardly a begin- 

 ning. For such an administration 



