Canadian Forestry Journal. December, igi6 



863 





TIMBERED ISLAND ON ATHABASCA RIVER AT MOUTH OF PASS CREEK, ALBERTA. 



our future supply. On areas which 

 have been lumbered, and the tops and 

 branches are allowed to remain and rot 

 on the ground, the most favorable con- 

 ditions are presented for the growth of 

 fungi and for the increase of insects 

 which attack the standing timber. 

 Then, too, where the stands, especially 

 of balsam, are too thick, the trees are 

 weakened and easily diseased. There 

 are districts where practically every 

 balsam tree is defective. 



hoss in Winter Logging. 



"The methods of exploitation are the 

 same as when the country was first 

 lumbered. Up to 1908 no changes 

 were made in methods. Naturallv in 

 cutting timber, one takes the most ac- 

 cessible timber and that which can be 

 cut and transported at the least cost, so 

 that the first lumbering was done 

 along the river banks and around the 

 borders of lakes, and only the largest 

 and best trees were taken. Up to 

 1908, not more than twelve per cent, of 

 balsam was taken by the companies 

 manufacturing pulp, now practically no 

 discrimination is practised between 

 balsam and spruce in cutting. The re- 

 sult of this method of cutting is that 



areas have had to be logged over many 

 times in order to get all the available 

 timber ; sections which were rocky or 

 difficult to approach were not cut and 

 timber distant from the waterways was 

 left. Now the hauls have materially 

 increased, with an increase in logging 

 expenses, and in other places the 

 amount of timber is too scanty to go 

 back for, and sections unlogged are 

 often so difficult of access as to make 

 the getting out of the timber impos- 

 sible at a profit. Logging is done in 

 the winter, which adds much to its dif- 

 ficulty and expense, and is responsible 

 for many wastes, such as high stumps, 

 logs lost in the snow, and slower 

 work. 



"The most obvious wastes under the 

 present system of logging are high 

 stumps, usable wood left in the tops, 

 the use of spruce and balsam in build- 

 ing camps, when white birch and pop- 

 lar can in most cases be used, the use 

 of merchantable wood for roads. There 

 is a lack of proper inspection of the 

 operations, nearly all the operators let- 

 ting out contracts for the cutting of 

 their timber, without adequate super- 

 vision of the operations. Some of the 

 companies have developed good in- 

 spection systems. 



