Canadian Forestry Journal, September, ipi6 



721 



Holding the Camper in Check 



The demand throug-hout Canada 

 that the reins of law be drawn tight- 

 er on all users of fire in timbered 

 territory is bound to drive our Gov- 

 ernments to more vigorous action. 

 Taking the country as a whole, the 

 great lack is not laws and regula- 

 tions, but determined enforcement. 



Complaints by licensees regarding 

 the failure of provincial governments 

 to deal with the annual peril from 

 campers, fishermen, etc., are too of- 

 ten met with a mailed copy of 

 "Rules and Regulations." The li- 

 censee, of course, knew all about 

 these printed prohibitions and cau- 

 tions, but he likewise knew that a 

 printed law is without effect unless 

 closely administered. Willing to 

 pay for his own rangers and costs of 

 fire fig-hting. he legitimately protests 

 against the indifference shown to 

 the fire patrol beyond the edge of his 

 limits. Forest protection cannot be 

 effected by patchwork. A mile of 

 carelessly patrolled forest may, and 

 does every summer, threaten the 

 precautions taken on neighboring 

 ■property. How illogical it is for a 

 provincial government to protest 

 against the cost of forest guarding 

 may be estimated by one instance, 

 when in 1913 a single lumber com- 

 pany lost fully $300,000 of pine and 

 spruce and $19,000 of camp equip- 

 ment, caches, logging gear, etc., by 

 fires that were started in Algonquin 

 Park. Ontario, presumably by care- 

 less campers or other persons on a 

 summer outing. 



Complaints from Ontario licensees 

 whose holdings are imperilled by 

 their proximity to the tourist routes 

 ■in Algonquin Park, have been sub- 

 mitted to the Ontario Department of 

 Lands and Forests, but thus far 

 without promise of better conditions. 



A letter received from the chief ran- 

 ger of one of the largest limit hold- 

 ers is given below : 



"I want to impress on you that if 

 some steps are not taken by the 

 Government to enforce stricter rules 

 on these tourists going through the 

 Park, some day you will have a big 

 fire. Tourists are allowed to sfo 

 through the Park without any 

 guides, and half of them know noth- 

 ing of the danger of fire, and more 

 of them are careless. 



"There should be some stringent 

 regulations made and enforced by 

 the Government either to prohibit 

 travelling by these parties in the 

 Park without guides or to put on 

 enough men to police the canoe 

 routes; otherwise you are going to 

 lose that country some day." 



Perhaps the compulsory engage- 

 ment of guides by every party 

 would be too severe in a public play- 

 ground, but there is nothing to pre- 

 vent the building of safe fire places 

 along the canoe routes. In North- 

 ern Minnesota not only are scores of 

 these fire places built by the rangers 

 but signs are erected to indicate 

 just where they are. Another sim- 

 ple but most effective precaution is 

 to have every party of campers en- 

 tering the Park, not only at Algon- 

 quin Park Station but at all the in- 

 lets, indicate the route they intend 

 to follow, and, as these routes are 

 more or less standard with all tra- 

 vellers, rangers could keep close tab 

 of their movements, instruct them 

 when necessary in the danger of 

 carelessness, and exercise in general 

 the functions of police. There is at 

 the present time a system of super- 

 vising visitors to Algonquin Park 

 for fire protection purposes. It 

 proves quite efficient as far as it is 

 exercised. But the trouble encoun- 

 tered by licensees in guarding their 



