The Porcupine Provincial Forest is a

protected Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although th ...

boreal forest Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruc ...

in Canada which covers the

Porcupine Hills The Porcupine Hills refer to various groups of hills and uplands located in the prairie provinces of Canada, specifically the provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. They are part of the Manitoba Escarpment, which was the shoreline of the anci ...

on the border of

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

and

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

. __TOC__

History

By the end of the 19th century,

Eastern Canada Eastern Canada (also the Eastern provinces or the East) is generally considered to be the region of Canada south of the Hudson Bay/ Strait and east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces (from east to west): Newfoundland and Labrado ...

had essentially run out of marketable timber due to unsustainable logging techniques,

land clearing Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

for

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building * Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction *Settlement (fin ...

and

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

, and an increase in

forest fires A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identif ...

caused by settlement. In 1899, the

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

Clifford Sifton Sir Clifford Sifton, (March 10, 1861 – April 17, 1929), was a Canadian lawyer and a long-time Liberal politician, best known for being Minister of the Interior under Sir Wilfrid Laurier. He was responsible for encouraging the massive amount ...

appointed Elihu Stewart as the chief inspector of timber and forestry for the Dominion of Canada. Stewart's job was to protect undisturbed federal forests from unsustainable logging and settlement practices, and to revitalize lands that had already been deforested. Before 1905, the Porcupine Hills were located entirely within the Northwest Territories in the

District of Saskatchewan The District of Saskatchewan was a regional administrative district of Canada's North-West Territories. It was formed in 1882 was later enlarged then abolished with the creation of the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta in 1905. Much of the a ...

, which meant that the Porcupine Forest was under full federal control. By 1901, a fire ranging service was established in Western Canada, and plans were made to determine which areas could be used for agriculture, and which areas would be left as forest. In 1905, the Province of Saskatchewan was created, and its eastern border cut through the Porcupine Forest. Approximately 80% of the forest lay within the new province, and the other 20% remained within the Northwest Territories. Unlike the five eastern provinces and British Columbia, the three

Prairie Provinces The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada. It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie Provinces, namely Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These provin ...

were not given control over their own natural resources. So even though Saskatchewan owned the land beneath the forest, they could not build infrastructure or settlements, or cut any wood, without permission of the federal government. In 1906, the Canadian government passed the first ''Dominion Forest Reserves Act'', which officially established the Porcupine Forest Reserve as a national forest. They hired

forest rangers ''The Forest Rangers'' is a Canadian television series that ran from 1963 to 1965. It was a co-production between CBC Television and ITC Entertainment and was Canada's first television show produced in colour. Executive producer Maxine Samue ...

and built a headquarters at Ushta, Saskatchewan. Many of the first rangers were either forestry engineers from the

University of New Brunswick The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universities in North Ameri ...

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

veterans, or both. By 1914, the new forest reserve was overseen by 11 rangers, and 1 ranger-in-charge, and these rangers also oversaw the Pasquia Forest Reserve. In addition to the headquarters, 4 ranger cabins, 5 stables, and 4 fire towers were built for the rangers. In 1930, the '' Saskatchewan Natural Resources Act'' was passed, which transferred control of Saskatchewan forests (and other natural resources) from the federal government to the Saskatchewan government. Once Saskatchewan officially received ownership of their natural resources, they created the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to manage them. The rangers that had previously worked for the

Dominion Forest Service The Canadian Forest Service (CFS; french: Service canadien des forêts) is a sector of the Canadian government department of Natural Resources Canada. Part of the federal government since 1899, the CFS is a science-based policy organization responsi ...

now worked for the Saskatchewan DNR.

References

{{Saskatchewan Forests Forests of Saskatchewan Forests of Manitoba

History

See also

References