|
THE CANADIAN
FORESTRY ASSOCIATION.
By the Editor
The Canadian
Forestry Association presents to its members and the public the
first number of the Canadian Forestry Journal, which will be devoted
to the interests of the Association and the advancement of the
forestry movement generally. It has been felt for some time that a
distinctive medium representing the Association was imperatively
required if it was to bring its objects and work to the attention of
the public in an adequate manner, and enlist popular sympathy and
support. In pursuance of this object a decision was reached at the
annual meeting that such a publication should be undertaken, and in
fulfilment of that resolution the publishing committee now submit
the first number.
As this marks an important step in the history of the Association,
it may be well to take the opportunity of presenting a brief sketch
of its development and the purposes of its organization.^ The
project for the formation of the Canadian Forestry Association was
initiated by Mr. E. Stewart, Dominion Superintendent of Forestry,
who called a meeting of a number of persons interested in the
subject at his office, on the 15th February, 1900. At that meeting
it was decided to form such an Association, and on the 8th March
following, the first annual meeting was held in the City of Ottawa,
at which the Canadian Forestry Association was duly organized, with
the following staff of officers:—Honorary President, His Excellency
the Governor-General; President, Hon. Sir Henri Joly de Lotbiniere;
Vice-President, Wm. Little; Secretary, E. Stewart; Assistant
Secretary and: Treasurer, R. H. Campbell; Board of Directors: Hiram
Robinson, Thos. Southworth, Professor John Macoun, Dr. Wm. Saunders,
Hon. G. W., Allan, E. W. Rathbun.
The considerations that determined the promoters of the movement to
take such a step deserve recapitulation.
Canada has from the beginning of her history been noted for the
extent and riches of her forests, and the lumber industry has been
one of the leading branches of her manifold activities, and has
developed with her growth, forming a principal contributor to the
domestic and export trade of the country, giving employment to a
large section of the population, developing a healthy and sturdy
class of men, and adding to the wealth and prosperity of the
Dominion. At the same time the revenue received by some of the
provincial governments directly from the forest has been one of the
largest sources of income, and has rendered a resort to direct
taxation in any other form almost altogether un-\ necessary. The
export of domestic forest products for the last j fiscal year was
$36,724,445. In Ontario and Quebec the usual I revenue from woods
and forests is from a million and a quarter to a million and a half
dollars each year, and in the other provinces which control their
own timber lands the revenue is steadily on the increase. In New
Brunswick, during 1903, it was $196,500. In British Columbia the
revenue for the present year was estimated at $250,000, and it will
probably be much larger. The total value of forest products, as
stated by the Census of 1901, is for the census year, $51,000,000.
European students of forestry, who have been forced by the condition
of affairs on that continent to give the wood supply careful
thought, have sounded a note of alarm as to the future. We quote
from M. M61ard, one of the leading foresters of France:
“At the present moment the forestry situation in the world can be
summed up in these words:
“ The consumption of wood is greater than the normal production of
the accessible forests; there is in this production a deficit which
is for the moment supplied by the destruction of the forests.
“This situation is very grave. It merits the attention not only of
foresters by profession, but of economists and statesmen. Forestry
questions which to-day encounter so much indifference, are destined
to take, before many years, a capital importance in the
consideration of civilized people. May it not then be too late!”
“It is profoundly disquieting to ascertain that 215 million
inhabitants of Europe, constituting the nations where commerce and
industry have attained the greatest power, do not find enough of
wood in the forests of the territories which they occupy.
“If Sweden, Finland, and Canada should supply alone the importations
of all the countries requiring manufacturing wood, their normal
production would not suffice, and their forest capital would be
promptly dissipated.”
Dr. Schlich, a leading English authority, discussing the same
question, and reaching a somewhat similar result, concludes with the
following statement:
“The great standby for coniferous timber will be Canada, if the
Government does not lose time in introducing a rational management
of her forests.”
What is the actual forest situation in Canada to-day ? Originally
covered by an immense forest, stretching from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, unbroken save where the prairie fire and the buffalo had
won for themselves a place on the plains of the West, the axe and
fire and the advance of settlement have so changed the face of
nature that the hardvrood forests have practically disappeared, and
with the exception of birch and, to a less extent, maple, Canada is
dependent almost wholly on outside sources for her hardwood supply.
Those who have had opportunity of observation state that not more
than one-third of her coniferous forests are mature timber, the
remainder being brul£ or small trees. In many districts fire has
done its work by itself or as an accessory to the axe, with such
destructive effect that large tracts, once forest-clad, are now
bared to the rock or sand foundation upon which so much of the
coniferous forest stands, and left useless and unproductive, efforts
to convert them to agricultural purposes having proved utterly
futile.
Flowing from the great forest-clad hills and mountains of the
Dominion are numerous perennial streams which in their descent form
water-powers of immense possibilities and value, and furnish
supplies of moisture to the plains beneath, plains which, in some
cases, in order to their successful cultivation, require a
substantial addition to the scanty rainfall which they receive. The
possibilities of electrical development and other uses of the energy
furnished by these streams open immeasure- ' able limits to Canada’s
industrial future. And the even flow, and in some situations, the
very existence of such watercourses depends on the preservation of
the forests at their sources. In Southern France, at the beginning
of the last century, the slopes of the Pyrenees, the Cevennes, the
Alps, were deforested and left bare to the action of the elements.
The results were the transformation of even-flowing streams into
rushing torrents, the erosion of the slopes into gullies and ridges,
destructive land-slides, and the deposit of silt on the plains
beneath to such an extent that some 8,000,000 acres of once fertile
soil in twenty departments were involved in the disastrous
consequences of forest destruction on 1,000,000 acres of mountain
slopes. France has already spent $20,000,000 to help repair this
condition and replace the forests, and it is estimated that more
than $30,000,000 will have to be expended before the area which the
State possesses, only some 800,000 acres, will be restored. Canada
has no special dispensation from Providence, and a similar
transgression of the laws of nature will inevitably bring the same
results. Is there not, therefore, reason that this question should
be given the most careful consideration by all seriously interested
in the future of the country?
In the older districts too severe denudation has already resulted in
dangerous freshets in the spring time, and the failure of springs
and streams in the summer, when their need is most felt, losses from
violent windstorms have increased, and the supply of wood for fuel
and domestic purposes is diminishing so rapidly that it will soon
become altogether inadequate, if some measures are not taken to
ensure renewal. The condition that is thus being brought about by
artificial means exists naturally in the prairie districts. Here the
need of wood for fuel and shelter is felt from the beginning. The
direct bearing which the shelter afforded by a strip of timber has
on agricultural production is clearly shown by the comparative
results on sheltered and unsheltered plots recorded in 1900 at the
Indian Head Experimental Farm, where the shelter meant a doubling or
trebling of the yield, while on some exposed places the crops were a
complete failure.
The esthetic value of trees has influence on one side of life which
it is well that Canadians should not neglect. The beautifying of the
home, the embellishment of the city street, the ornamentation of the
park and roadside, with the graceful forms, the beautiful foliage
and the grateful shade of forest trees, brings to each of these a
charm and attractiveness which cannot but have an elevating effect
on the national life by awakening the sense of beauty and attaching
the affections of the people more strongly to the homes and haunts
of their native land.
In laying down the programme of its principles, the Canadian
Forestry Association kept all these questions in view. In brief,
/the statement of its objects is: To advocate and encourage
judicious methods in dealing with our forests and woodlands; to
awaken public interest to the deteriorating effects of wholesale
destruction of forests; to consider and recommend the exploration,
as far as practicable, of the public domain, and its division into
agricultural, timber and mineral lands, with a view to devoting the
public lands to the purposes for which they are best fitted; to
encourage reforestation and the planting of trees on the prairies,
in cities, towns and villages, and throughout the country; to
collect and disseminate for the benefit of the public, reports and
information bearing on the forestry problem in general/
The Forestry Association, although it is consolidating the influence
of those favoring better forest management, is not the pioneer in
this movement. Such a movement has been supported and advocated for
many years by earnest and far-seeing citizens of the Dominion, most
of whom have now identified themselves with the Association. By
writings, by addresses, by petitions to the Government, they sought
to bring the matter to the attention of the public, but the time was
not ripe, and the public indifference did not readily yield. “The
forests of Canada are inexhaustible” was the stock argument. “
Forestry is a fad ” was the general opinion. And if any interest was
aroused, it was quickly lulled again by the absence of that pressure
of necessity which is the greatest incentive to action. “The future
may be allowed to look after itself.”
Progress was, however, being made. A great forestry convention was
held in Montreal in 1882, at which the American Forest Congress was
organized. This conference was attended by large numbers from Canada
and the United States, and the papers and discussions aroused much
attention at the time, and while the effects were to a large extent
ephemeral, still from that time may be dated the first effective
efforts to deal with forest fires, and to make permanent
reservations of timber lands, and these are the two special
directions in which Canadian forest policy has made the greatest
development.
Fire is the most serious menace to the forest, and protection from
it must be at the basis of any system established. At first
consideration it might seem preposterous that the vast extent of the
Canadian forest could be effectively protected from fire, but when
it is reflected that the fires that result from natural causes are
comparatively few in number compared with those that originate
through the action of man, the matter does not seem to be an utter
impossibility. And that it is not so experience has already shown.
The Dominion and Provincial Governments, with the exception of
British Columbia and Prince Edward Island, have established special
fire-ranging services, commencing with that of Ontario in 1885, and
these have been effective in proportion to the thoroughness with
which they have been worked out. The more that has been spent on the
service the greater has been its effectiveness, and the results have
been the saving of much valuable timber. The smoke from forest fires
which was at one time the usual accompaniment of every summer in the
cities of Eastern Canada has given place to almost complete immunity
from such an unpleasant state of the atmosphere. A great deal still
remains to be done in extending the system and perfecting its
operations, but the principle of a fire ranging staff is justified
beyond the possibility of hostile criticism. The fire-ranging system
is an established and unassailable feature of Canadian forest
policy. It is a form of fire insurance for the forest which is both
cheap and effective. In the Province of Ontario, which spends the
largest amount upon this service, the expenditure was $31,237 in
1903, and the revenue received from woods and forests was
$2,307,356. Although this revenue was swollen beyond the usual
proportions by bonuses for timber limits, it may be pointed out that
the large bonuses tendered were justified on the part of the
purchasers largely by the immunity from fire ensured by the fire
preventive service.
Timber reserves have also been established in different parts of the
Dominion, partly with the object of protecting the game animals and
the watersheds, but also with the purpose of providing a permanent
supply of timber. These reserves, so far as they extend, and they
now comprise an- area of over eighteen million acres, are a concrete
exemplification of the principle that lands which are unfitted for
other purposes should be devoted to the growth of timber. This is a
principle of first importance, for, as the forests require but
little from the soil, they already exist, and can be produced on
lands so rocky or sandy that nothing else of value can grow upon
them. In every part of Canada, and particularly along the great
Laurentian ridge, and in the mountainous districts; there are large
areas bearing magnificent forests, which, bared of such covering,
have no other productivity to take its place. The extent of such
areas in Canada constitutes an imperative demand that the forest
should be continued and reproduced.
The necessity for tree growth on the western plains was early r
recognized, and an effort to stimulate action in this direction was
made by the adoption of the Tree Culture Claim Act, under which the
holder of entry for a quarter section of land might earn title
thereto by planting forty acres of forest trees. Lack of knowledge
of the requisites of success resulted in almost total failure of
this plan of reforesting the plains. When the Experimental Farms
were established in the West in 1889, experiments in tree growing
were immediately begun, and have resulted in a clearer understanding
of the conditions of success and of the species which give the most
satisfactory results. With the inauguration of the Dominion Forestry
Branch in 1899, a still further impetus was given. A scheme for
supplying the settlers with trees, to be planted and cared for under
expert advice, has been worked out successfully, and gives promise
of great future development.
This was the course of development the forestry policy of Canada had
followed when the Canadian Forestry Association came into existence.
Since that time the fire protective force has been increased, and
the methods of management improved throughout the Dominion, and such
a force has been established in some places where previously no
effort of the kind had been made. The Forest Reserves have been
enlarged and the number increased. In Ontario a plan for assisting
the farming population to set out wood lots has been arranged
through the medium of the Agricultural College. While the Forestry
Association cannot assume all the credit for these advances, it can
at least claim that all efforts in that direction have had its
support, and that it has had sufficient effect on public opinion to
assist materially in making the way for such development easier.
Annual meetings of the Association have been held each year, and
reports of the proceedings have been published and widely
distributed. The Association has, by resolution, made
representations on forestry questions to different governments and
other public bodies, all of which have received respectful
consideration, and have had an influence on the course of forest
legislation. /By the editing of a forestry department in Rod and Gun
in Canada, by public meetings and through the press, the purposes of
the Association have been kept before its members and the public,
and it is hoped to do this more completely through the columns of
the present journal./
The Canadian Forestry Association, at the end of the fourth year of
its existence, has a membership numbering nearly six hundred,
including legislators, foresters, lumbermen, farmers, scientific
men, and others. Its financial position is good, and in addition to
the publication of the Forestry Journal, several advance steps are
now under contemplation, with the object of reaching and arousing
public interest more fully.
What are the possibilities of the future? In regard to this we may
learn much from others.
Germany has for centuries been working out a forest administration,
which^rom crude beginnings has developed into a highly specialized
system, in which the annual returns from the forest have steadily
increased both in quantity and value, although for the most part
such forests are situated on poor, sandy soil, or in , rough, hilly
or mountainous districts. With a population of 240 persons to the
square mile, Germany considers it profitable to not only keep her
poor lands, at present forested, in that condition, but to increase
the area of such forest lands, even by purchase. The net annual
income from her 35,000,000 acres of forest land is $63,000,000.
In France a similar policy has been followed, and although the
recklessness of the Revolution period interfered with its steady
advancement, since 1870 no forest lands belonging to the State have
been alienated, but instead the area has been increased from year to
year, and improved methods of management are being developed.
Canada’s system of forest administration cannot, however, be wholly
the same as that of any other country, and must start on a simple
basis.
Its foundation has been laid in the policy, almost universal in
Canada, of keeping the forest lands under Government control, in the
fire-ranging system, and in the setting apart of forest reserves.
The reserves give an opportunity for a more careful and minute study
of forest conditions than is possible in the great area of the
general forest, and are the first steps toward the final conquering
of much that has become a wilderness, but which may yet blossom, if
not as a rose, at least with a beauty and verdure and value of its
own. The aim of the management must be to produce a forest of
well-formed trunks, clear and clean, and the evolution of the forest
by which this is reached is a question requiring careful study.
Various influences affect the results beneficially or otherwise.
Different species of trees have varying effects on one another. Some
will grow in dense shade; some require light. For some a great deal
of moisture is necessary; others prefer dry locations. Insects do
their destructive work, as for instance the larch sawfly, which
killed the tamarac throughout the northern forests; rot and fungi
and storms all have their effect.
The problems of economy, of engineering, of transportation, of
management, of scientific investigation, that a study of forest
administration opens up will give scope for the best intellect that
Canada can produce, and display a field for investigation,
fascinating in itself and in its possibilities of practical
application for the good of the country.
The educational institutions have recognized the meaning this
movement has for them, and have been turning their attention to the
possibility of providing the scientific training that may be
necessary. Sackville University has had a course of lectures on
Forestry. Queen’s University, during the term of 1900, also held a
similar series, and both she and the University of Toronto have been
looking towards the establishment of a School of Forestry. The
Ontario Agricultural College is taking active steps in its special
sphere.
The forestry movement should appeal to all Canadians. Canada has
been blessed by Providence with a wealth of forest. It has inwoven
itself in her poetry and her history. It clothes with beauty her
sterile lands, making them productive and giving healthy occupation
to a happy people. In the advance of the civilization of the
nineteenth century two-thirds of this forest has been swept away by
fire, uselessly and needlessly. Rocky and sandy wastes have been
bared and left desolate. Is this all that the intelligence of man
can do ? Has the twentieth century no other purpose to accomplish?
Will the close of another cycle find the destruction much more
surely and completely established? Or will the expiration of another
hundred years find the forests clothing the rocky hills and valleys
with their beautiful verdure, well-ordered, productive, abounding in
wealth for the state, furnishing the needs of Canada and the regions
beyond, supporting a hardy and intelligent populace, forming a
shelter for the wild animals and a place of pleasant resort for the
people ? The accomplishment of such a purpose is well worthy the
support of all patriotic citizens, of all who love their native
land, and have an interest in its future. Such is the purpose which
the Canadian Forestry Association has set before it as the ideal for
Canada, to which it proposes to work, and for which it appeals for
support.
A request was made recently to the Bureau of Forestry for the
Province of Ontario for a forester to assist in the management of
timber limits in Algoma, to which the only reply that could be sent
was, that there was no supply to meet the demand. Such a request,
however, emphasizes the fact that the need of trained foresters is
beginning to be felt.
At a recent meeting of the Board of Directors of the Canadian
Forestry Association, a resolution was passed expressing the opinion
of the Board that in view of the annual destruction of timber in
British Columbia, and the difficulty of guarding the forests from
fire, it is desirable that the Bush Fires Act of that province
should be amended so as to prohibit the starting of fires for the
clearing of land between the first day of May and the first day of
November in each year, unless a special permit for that purpose be
granted by the Forest Ranger, or other officer appointed for the
district in which such permission is asked.
A great deal of interest has been excited in the County of Renfrew,
in Ontario, by the preparations being made for the erection of what
is popularly known as a “stump factory.” The object of the
establishment is to utilize the red pine stumps in that district by
reducing them by the action of heat in a retort, and it is expected
that the chemical products and charcoal will return a good profit.
Similar establishments have been in operation in Michigan for some
time with satisfactory results. The farmers in the vicinity of the
proposed location have great expectations of having lands cleared at
a profit, thus accomplishing two purposes, as the result will be a
considerable increase in the agricultural value of the lands.
You can read this
first volume here in pdf format...
Volume 1 1905
More issues can be found on the
Internet Archive |
