560 



Canadian Forestry Journal, June, ipi6. 



Military Demands on French Forest 



Severe Cutting for Trench Purposes Creates Perplexing Problem 



for Government Forest Service 



We gave some descriptron recent- 

 ly of the destruction that has been 

 wrought in the French forests by 

 the artillery of the contending 

 armies and of the suggested plans 

 for reforestation after the war. 

 There are some interesting notes in 

 the "Revue des Eaux et Forests" in 

 regard to cutting that is being done 

 in the forests for the requirements 

 of the French army, from which the 

 following notes are taken: 



Timber operations more and more 

 important are being carried on in 

 the Government forests for the 

 needs of the army. After the smal- 

 ler trees the finest trees of the stand 

 are now being cut in several places. 

 These operations are especially in- 

 tensive in the forests situated at the 

 front near the armies. The militarv 

 authorities state that on account of 

 the necessity of working rapidly and 

 on account of the difficulty of trans- 

 portation by railway they cannot go 

 far for the wood which is required, 

 and as the front changes very little 

 the result is that the same forests 

 are being constantly placed under 

 contribution. • 



Military N'eeds Urgent. 



The necessary consequence will 

 be great lack of wood in certain 

 regions of the north and east of 

 France after the war, the more so 

 because very probably the Germans 

 will leave more or less completely 

 ruined forests situated in the same 

 region on the territory provisionally 

 occupied bj them. There is enough 

 in that to disquiet and even to 

 frighten those who while occupying 

 themselves with the present situa- 

 tion are not disinterested in the fu- 



ture. It is greatly to be desired that 

 the armies should look for wood in 

 the interior whenever they can so 

 that the impoverishment may as 

 much as possible be spread through- 

 out the whole of France and not 

 confined in large measure to the 

 regions to the north and east al- 

 ready so terribly tried in other ways. 



On the other hand, always under 

 the necessity of haste, the opera- 

 tions carried out bv the militarv 

 parties have taken place often under 

 more or less defective conditions. 

 Evidently the rules of management 

 and silviculture take second place in 

 the present circumstances, but that 

 is far from taking no account of 

 them at all. There is nothing op- 

 posed to the cut being arranged ac- 

 cording to the prearranged order of 

 the rules for operations. However, 

 it is often very difficult to reconcile 

 the imperious demands of the 

 army's needs which must evidently 

 be given consideration before any- 

 thing else, with operations satisfac- 

 tory to the future of the forest. The 

 military men think that the forester 

 gives them wood that they want too 

 parsimoniously. They do not think 

 that if the French forests had not 

 been administered with a wise fore- 

 sight and with the object of conser- 

 vation they would be far from being 

 able to provide the heavy demands 

 which are now imposed on them. In 

 place of reproaching the foresters 

 with being conservators, the mili- 

 tary authorities ought rather to con- 

 gratulate them on having been so. 



The foresters who have the task 

 of administering the forests at the 

 present time fear that the military 

 authorities ask very much more 



