CONCERNING RATES OF UTILIZATION OF SOME OF THE FOREST RESOURCES, AND THEIR ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE, IN CANADA1

The economic life of a new or pioneer country is at first entirely dependent upon the raw natural resources of the country. Later on as the original supply dwindles, is depleted or exhausted, the people turn to manufacturing, farming, fishing, shipping, and similar pursuits which do not require further gross depletion of the available resources, but rely more upon efficient and more nearly complete utilization of these raw resources. Canada is a fairly young country by most standards, but it is a land of such great area and such low population that the development of an independent and natural internal economy has resulted in the expenditure of a vast amount of her best resources, both timber and mineral, in an effort to become more self-sufficient. Fur, fish, and forests have served as the basic commodities for trade for the past 200 or more years. Serious exploitation of the timber resources has taken place during the past 100 years, with the resulting depletion of available first grade timber. During the past 40 to 50 years, however, there has been a strong effort made t