Lakehead University Forestry Association - Yearbook (Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada)

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venue obtained from the harvesting of the crop. Is i t not time in Ontario, 106 years after Confederation, and after more than 60 years of the presence and influence of professional forestry in the province, that there should be on the public record a clear, comprehensive, unequivocal statement of forest policy? The existence of such a statement would be a stronger basis for support for the needs of an effective sustained yield forest management program, surely, than the present policy, if it exists, which seems to be heavily shrouded in ambiguity and highly susceptible to the vagaries of political climates. Upon our profession, ultimately, rests the responsibility for the design of a provincial forest policy which our legislators will recognize and adopt as the indispensable foundation for the creation of a living heritage for future generations - a well-managed public and private forest estate . Kenneth W. Hearnden , R.P.F.

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licencees, it is a fact that the initiative and responsibility for the planning, design, and general supervision of projects remained with the Unit Foresters. That the average Unit size, in the North, is approximately 1 million acres may be sufficient indication of the extent of the responsibility assigned to these people, and it may be inferred, of the intensity of management to be provided. In considering this issue of forest policy in Ontario in the light of actual experience across the past few years, one is inclined to speculate that the policy is in reality one of expedience, perhaps best expressed as, you liquidate, we regenerate, where possible, and to the extent that funds may be provided. Indeed, in the past several years, there has occurred a shrinkage in financial support for silviculture, and this has imposed stresses and dif- ficulties at all levels. Nearly 20 years ago, the Sixth British Commonwealth Forestry Conference a- dopted a resolution on Forest Policy, portions of which follow: 1. That the attention of all Commonwealth Governments be drawn to the great need for a continuous and stable forest policy. 2. That those Governments who have not yet formulated and published a statement of their forest policy be urged to do so without delay, and that all Commonwealth Governments be urged to take action to implement their forest policies. A forest policy, the Conference agreed, should aim at, The protection, conservation, and sustained yield management of sufficient areas of forest land to ensure the maintenance and the improvement of the protection functions of the forest, particularly in relation to soil and water supplies. In discussing the necessary steps towards sustained yield, a Conference committee stated that the attainment of adequate restocking of cut-over areas by natural or artificial means should constitute the first charge on the re- continued.

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Field Trips