Forests as Climatic Moderators

The greatest authority of this continent, Prof. C. S. Sargent, Director of Arnold Arboretum, and Professor of Arboriculture at Harvard University says, “As moderators of the extremes of heat and cold, the benefits derived from extensive forests are undoubted, and that our climate is gradually changing through their destruction is apparent to the most casual observer. Our Springs are later, our Summers are drier, and every year becoming more so; our Autumns are carried forward into winter while our Winter climate is subject to far greater changes of temperature than formerly. The total average of snowfall is perhaps as great as ever but it is certainly less regular and covers the ground for a shorter period than formerly.”

Several old time residents in the Vancouver district have expressed the opinion that such changes have taken place here within recent years, but they did not suspect that the cutting of timber had anything to do with the change of climate.

In nearly every State of America there are illustrations of devastation and ruin, floods in Spring, excessive drought in Summer, colder and more unsettled Winters, all due directly to cutting down their forests. Valleys have had their fertile soil covered with several feet of gravel and boulders, reliable supplies of water in Summer have been cut off, farms and villages have been abandoned. In some cases it became necessary to build great dams at enormous expense, and sometimes these burst, resulting in great loss of life and property through the destruction of towns.