Logging — The Forerunner of the Forest Fires

By bulletins, circulars, posters, etc., we have been well informed as to the cost of forest fires to the country. These are primarily due to logging firms leaving slash and other refuse on the forest floor instead of piling it up and burning it. Fire almost inevitably follows logging operations and usually spreads into the green timber.

I am informed that in the lease agreement a clause demands the clearing and burning of all slash when this slash is a public menace or nuisance, but this clause is not enforced, and the lumber firms know beforehand that in this Province it will not be enforced. If it was enforced, they say there would be less logging here because the firms would go elsewhere. My answer is, let them go elsewhere, and let us encourage legitimate logging by people prepared to conform to our laws; if the clause re burning of slash is a bad one, remove it; if the law is good, enforce it.

I can quite understand that the cost of collecting and burning slash would either reduce the company’s profits or increase the cost of lumber, but we are not justified in neglecting the slash in order to save somebody a few thousand dollars, while the community loses millions by fire and its direct results.