Forest Conditions. 353 
1. Forest Conditions. 
The forest area has at various times and by various 
authorities been roughly estimated, the latest estimate 
being one and a quarter million square miles, which 
would make the forest percent about 34. But this 
includes the open woodlands of the northern territory 
and of the prairies, which, while of great importance 
to the local settlers, are for the most part probably 
or surely not of commercial value. Commercially 
valuable forests, actually or prospectively, are found 
only in British Columbia and in the old provinces, the 
two forest regions separated, just as in the United 
States, by the forestless region, except that north of 
the prairie region a continuous belt of open woodland 
extends to near the mouth of the Mackenzie River. 
A careful examination of the sources of information 
has led the writer to the conclusion that less than 500,- 
000 square miles or round 300 million acres would 
cover fully the commercially valuable forest land, 
two-fifths of which is to be found in British Columbia. 
Indeed, although we are accustomed to look upon 
Canada as a great forest country, it really possesses 
about 40 percent less commercial forest area than the 
United States. It will be understood that all such 
statistics are merely rough estimates, the data being 
slim, and eked out by conjectures based on geograph- 
ical conditions which predicate the character of the 
country. Most unreasonable speculations and cal- 
culations* as to amount of timber standing and value 
have been made on impossible assumptions. 
*As an instance, one statistician by mere math ical figuring, ly, de- 
ducting the known crop and pasture area from the total land area would make the 
forest area of Quebec over 209 million acres. This includes the country north of 
