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This ttam is fUimd at tlw radHcUon ratio dwekKl balow / C* docuniMrt Mt fHm* mi taux da rMuetkm imHqu^ ri^teaaoua. lOx 14x Itx 22x 26x 30x y 1 1 12x 16x aOR 24x 28x 3! 2x TIM totlw gwMrosHy of : TiM post of tlM orlfinal copy and in k M pi m wMi «Milty iglbt tJM th# MM pc(o with ■ ■iofi. or ttM baelt eevor OttMf OfififMl COpiOO OfO fUllMfl or iHuotrotod iinproosion. on roo wim ■ pnniMi TlM loot rocordod framo on ooch mierofieho •hall contain tho aymbol -^' (moaning "CON- TINUED"), or tho symbol ▼ (moaning "END"), wW eh owor appiioa. Maps, plataa. charts, ate., may ba fHmad at diffarant raduetion ratios. Thoso too iarga to bo ontiraly inciudad in ono aapoaura aro fHmod beginning in tho uppor loft hand eomor. loft to right and top to bottom, as many framoa aa raquirad. TIm following diagrams illustrata tha nMthod: 1 2 3 1 2 4 5 L'mampMr* fHiii* fwt r«prodult §r§c9 i !• g«n4ro«it« d«: UnhnnMUmi. 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Loraqua la documant aat trap grand pour Atra raproduit an un aaul cliehi. il aat film* i partir da I'angla aupdriaur gaucha. da gaucha i droita, at da haut an baa. an pranam la nombra d'imagaa nteaaaaira. Laa diagrammaa suivanta illuatrant la mMioda. 2 3 8 6 MKMOOrV MKMinON TBT QUIT (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2) I.I lit Hi 133 s u& 1.25 11.4 jM ■i /iPPLED IM<3E IU3 Cnt Hoin SlrM< (716) 4»2 - 0300 - PlHinr^ (7ie) 2«s - saw - Fai i^-V mmmm&m W':^;^^^ ',tv,,1*-. rl.K:. v^'iSfeS ■fs^i 4*^ ^•■f* ^^.. :«V' .-JCV, «>1551;* ii i'P^-!fi^^ iflr^-f"' mm^ ProiFD-ARftNTAQEr, U»IE FORESTIEU Commission of Conservation CANADA COMMITTEE ON FORESTS • M lb FORESTRY SITUATION IN QUEBEC By G. C. PICHE CkieJ, Forest Service, Quebec Reprinted from the Sboh Annual Report of the Commitsion of Conservation OTTAWA-I9I5 ^"^0 '"^N, ''^tr *«% ^^Sh ItM Forestry Situation in Quebec TTHE Forest Service of Quebec wh reorganized in 1909 by the 1 Hon. Jules AUard, Minister of Lands and Forests. It re- ceived more extensive and more definite powers, and a vote of $35,000 was placed at our disposal. At that time, the personnel was composed of two forest engineers, three civU engineers, fifteen student assistants, and some eighty rangers, explorers, etc. In 1915, we have a staflf of twenty forest engineers, two civil engi- neers, fifteen expert scalers or special agents, and eighty forest rangers, explorers or guides, and the vote has reached 1100.000. As you will notice, the number of non-technical men has remained stationary, whereas quite a number of experts have been added to the force. This was the weakness of the former service ; as. to approach the lumbermen, to discuss with them the methods of exploitation of thei' limits, and to give decisions where difficulties anse, qualified men are necessary, who must be clothed with more authority than is usually given to an ordinary ranger. WoA of ** °!"*^"" *° recruit such men, it was necessary to Forttt School ovide for a forest school, which was established in 1910, at Quebec. The students ther.. take a three years' course and work in the ranks of the Provincial forest service durmg their holidays, so that, when they graduate, they are familiar with our conditions and with the task they are called upon to per- form. The results of this system have been very good. O tt of twenty-six forest engineers who have graduated from the L^val forest school, we employ eighteen, the others having secured em- ployment with some of the lumbering concerns in Quebec, or are workiTig on their own account. I may mention that one of our men is now in charge of the Arboricultural Branch of the Department of Agiiculture of Quebec, . hilst another is one of the engineers in the Quebec Department of Roads. Now that we have succeede; in recruiting a technical personnel of some value, we expect to devote our attention to the training o£ forest rangers, who would be of value, not only to the Government but also to the lumbermen ; and, before long, we expect to establish COMMISSION OF CONSBRVATION » school for rangen. To complete this educ*tional mov tent, we would have liked to have some of our men lecture in the different centres, but this may not be done for a few years, as at present there are other subjects demanding attention. As you are aware, the province (rf Quebec has a total Q^SiMfSnisiB 'ont area of some 130 million acres, of which 4S million acres have been leased to the limit-holders, five million acres belong to private individuals, and the remainder, some 80 million acres, is in virgin tmtat. We have had very little to do yet with the management of the private lands, but we know that there are many refunns that should be made, and it is one of the problems that will be considered in the near future. We would like to establish a system of co-opera- tion with the private holders so as to place their wood-lots under a permanent system of exploitation. At the present time, our activ- ities in this field have be Mmtted to the re-forestation of waste lands and I may say that this movement has aroused a good deal of interest in the province. The demands for young trees are now coming in greater number each year, so that we have had to increase the capacity of our forest nursery at Berthierville. To protect our timber lands from the encroach- ment of land speculators under cover of colonisation, we have to maintain an active watch over the lots sold each year. As soon as we have collected sufiicient proof that the occupation of the land is not bona fidt, a report is made asking for the cancellation of the sale. Often our action is completed by the collection of heavy fines imposed upon the timber which has been cut . by trespassers. This rigid control has caused a diminution in the number of lots sold each year, but we believe that % better class of settlers has come to the front, knowing that they would be encouraged and protected against the land speculator. During the past year much time has been devoted to the classification of lands, ne>vly 500,000 acres being so examined. One of ih<- . uses of bad lum- bering in certain sections of our provinc- has . .cii the uncertainty of the limit holders whether their limits would vanish under the attacks of land speculators, resulting in a sort of a race between the lot-seeker and the limit-holder, the latter trymg to cut the tim- ber as quickly as possible in order to forestall any efforts of the former to secure it. By a rigid inspection of the lots and a thorough classification of the townships, these elements of disturbance have now disappeared and the lumbering is taking a more steady course. Daacsr frofli ClassiflcatkHi of Lands .1 P0RB8TRY SITUATION IN QUBBBC J Vtfgin Vonitt On th* wuth ihora of the St. Lawrence, we have even succeeded in cresting reaervee in which no Mle of lots will take place within ten yean. We did not contend for a longer period ae we are cer- tain that, within thia timet public tentiment will be eufflciently educated to allow ui to continue thia policy without any diflSculty. The PoTMt Service has been charged also with the exploration of vacant lands and, last year, our men made reconnaissances over some 8,000 square miles of territory. 1 he information gathered has allowed us to offer some of these lands to the public, as timber limits, and a sale was made last October. Notwithstanding the disturbances caused by the war, the average price, per square mile, was much higher than any former sa's. Cooirolol ^' control of t,he lumbering operation has been Umbwiag successful, thanks to the hearty co-operation of the ^"' "" limit-holders. In the pulp and paper districts there is absolutely nu reproach to be made to the operators, as the at jmpi are cut low, the tops are small, etc. ; in fact, the lumbering is more conservative than we dared to recommend in 1909. To encourage this good movement, and also to reduce the dangers of fire by mini- mising the amount of dibris, the Hon. Mr. Allard, Minister of Ljmdc and Forests, has decided to give a rebate of 50 per cent off the stumpage dues, for all logs less than six inches in diiimoter at the small end. Many lumbering companies have establii tied a forestry branch of their own, or have appointed a certain number of i ic- tors, to control their logging operations and are co-opftrating th the provincial service to the fullest extent. Much attention is now paid to the rapid exploiuti'^-i of windfalls and of fire-killed and insect-killed trees. The Govei'"'r!<>nt gives a reduction of stumpage in each case to stin .ilae the rcn o\aI of thete trees before they are too much damaged. Taeiuiieai Wark ^" *^* domain of forest entomology and mycology to b« Uadwtakn ^* ^^^ "°t ^^''^^ ^^X much ; fint, because of the lack of technical assistance, and, secondly, on ac- count of pressure of other work. We are trying to correct this deficiency as quickly as possible and two of our young foresters are specializing in these important studies. Though our forests have not suffered very much of late from the attacks of insects, we have to deplore the decline in the reproduction of balsam fir, and, in some places, of spruce, as a result of the defoliations by the spruce-bud worm. The forest tent caterpillar has been very act've during the last three summers, but, thai^ to the Dominion Bureau of Ento- 6 COMMISSION OP CONSERVATION mology, oiir fanners have been instructed respecting preventive measures which will soon check this insect. it.t ^^ i^,t.^ -. ^" ^'^y sections of Quebec, we find farms where Wuto Lands ^"^ "Kht soil, uncovered by undue clearing or im- poverished by a wrong system of cultivation, has become transformed into drifting sand, which has extended upon the adjoining lands. The sandy wave buries the good soils, and, if not checked., results in very serious losses. As found by the French foresters, who succeeded in reclaiming the immense sand dunes of the Gascogne district in France, the best method to deal with this problem is to establish, first, a temporary cover with beach grass, then later, to plant with appropriate trees. We started similar work three years ago at Lachute, and we have now 150 acres sown in beach grass and about SO more completely reclaimed with white pine, Scotch pine, spruce and green ash. Another experiment was carried out last autumn along the main line of the Canadian Pacific railway, in the vicinity of Berthier Junction, and we expect to pursue this work vigorously next spring. As stated above, the reforestation movement is now as.^uming much importance and we can expect much from this policy of bringing unproductive lands again under cultivation. Protecti from '^'^°"Sh the protection against forest fires does not Forest FirM come under our jurisdiction, I believe it to be my duty to mention here the excellent work done by my colleague, Mr. W. C. J. Hall, who, with a small staflE and a small appropriation, succeeded in protecting efficiently the vast area under his care. The lumbermen must also be congratulated and we can mention with pride the excellent organizations of the St. Maurice Valley and of the Lower Ottawa which were the first of the kind in Canada. Gentlemen, I believe I have said enough to prove to you that the forestry question has received the fullest attention from the Quebec Government. I have not the least doubt that, with the support of the authorities and the co-operation of the lumbermen, we will be able to do much more. Our province is rich in forests and in water-powers, the necessary elements for the manufacture of pulp and paper, so that we may look with confidence for a great future in that direction. But I expect also that the present cut of one billion feet from the forests under license can be increased largel}', without any damage to the normality of the stands, provided certain precautions are taken ; that is, provided technically trained men are employed by the limit-holders to prepare their working plans. The cut from the private lands now exceeds 800 million feet. FORESTRY SITUATION IN QUEBEC 7 I think it could also be increased by judicious management and a systematic reclamation of the waste Uuids. The future of forestry in Quebec is, therefore, very bright. Sit- uated at the door of Europe, we should be able to dispute their markets with any of our former competitors. But I believe, if the reports received are correct, that before long Norway will be obliged to import pulpwood from Finland, and it is our duty to be ready when the time comes to take advantage of these new conditions. ijlg~l_~l~ IfilllillililiiMfliMili