The origins of the B.C. Forest Service can be traced back to the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Timber and Forestry, appointed July 9, 1909. In submitting their report to the Legislature in January 1911, the Commissioners made 21 recommendations regarding forest management and, as a result, the first Forest Act was drafted. It received assent on February 27, 1912 and created the B.C. Forest Branch, as the Forest Service was first called. In 1921 the first research duties were assigned to James Alexander, a recent graduate of the University of Toronto. He investigated timber utilization, slash disposal, natural regeneration, growth and yield, and fire protection, and produced timber volume tables. In 1923, Arthur Pickford was hired to study the natural regeneration of Douglas-fir and was later placed in charge of an experimental nursery in Victoria. In that
same year the newly appointed Assistant Chief Forester, Bob St. Clair,
recommended that a strong research program be established, along with experiment
stations at suitable locations. As a result, fieldwork began at the
Aleza Lake Experiment Station, northeast of Prince George, in 1924.
Additional research staff were hired immediately (Percy Barr) and in 1926
(George Barnes and Braham Griffith). In 1927 the Research Division was formally established within the B.C. Forest Branch, with a staff of seven and annual expenditures of $34,000. Additional personnel were hired to work at the Aleza Lake Experiment Station, and in 1929 the Cowichan Lake Experiment Station was established on southern Vancouver Island. Fin McKinnon (later to become Chief Forester and Deputy Minister of Forests) and Stig Schenström (a Swedish forester who established the first experimental thinning research project in the province) were added to the staff in 1929. The Research Division continued to expand in 1930, to become the largest and most active forest research organization in Canada. But the next two years saw serious cutbacks as a result of the Depression. In 1932 the head of the Research Division, Percy Barr, left to take up teaching duties at the School of Forestry of the University of California, Berkeley. His replacement was Ernest C. Manning, who had been Assistant Chief Forester since 1927. Other staff also departed during the early to mid-1930s. Stig Schenström went to South America to manage plantations, but most staff members left to take up teaching positions at universities in the United States and Canada. Unemployment relief programs resulted in men being stationed at both the Aleza Lake and Cowichan Lake experiment stations, where they built roads and constructed various buildings. After
Ernest C. Manning became Chief Forester in 1935, his successor as Assistant
Chief Forester and Forester In Charge of Research was C.D. Orchard.
Unfortunately, by 1936 only two researchers remained in the division: Eric
Garman and Fin McKinnon. Manning decided to rebuild the Research Division, and
in 1937 he recruited Angus MacBean, formerly of the research arm of the Ontario
Department of Lands and Forests, and George Allen, a recent graduate of the
University of British Columbia (UBC). In 1939 the Research and Forest Survey divisions of the B.C. Forest Branch merged to become the Economics Division, responsible for reforestation, forest surveys, aerial surveys, parks and recreation, and research. In spite of adverse economic conditions during its lifetime, the Research Division established two experiment stations, that still function, identified a number of forest regeneration problems in coastal and interior forests, developed techniques for raising bareroot planting stock in forest nurseries and produced a variety of forest stand yield and volume tables. On April 5, 1945 the BC Forest Branch was amalgamated with the Department of Lands to become the Department of Lands and Forests, with a Deputy Minister of Lands and a Deputy Minister of Forests. The Forest Branch then became the Forest Service. A second Royal Commission on forestry, headed by the Honourable Chief Justice Sloan, submitted its report to the Legislature in December of that year. The main focus was the institution of sustained yield forest management , which Sloan believed was essential and could be achieved by addressing forest protection, reforestation, logging methods, new forms of forest tenure and taxation, management planning, intensive silviculture, education, and research. In the
mid-1940s the research components of the Economics Division focused on the
reproduction of Douglas-fir (George Allen), growth and yield (James Alexander),
soils and land classification (R.H. [Dick] Spilsbury), logging efficiency and
timber utilization (Angus MacBean), and silviculture (Eric Garman). Research
staff were located in an old house at 558 Michigan Street, one block south of
the Legislature. Research was carried out somewhat in isolation from the rest of
the Forest Service, other than the Reforestation Division. Some of the Economics Division's new sections grew so much in importance and workload that they split off to become separate entities. This resulted in the creation of the Reforestation Division in 1946 and the Parks and Recreation Division in 1948. With the passage of the Canada Forestry Act, the B.C. Forest Service received federal funding to carry out a province-wide forest inventory over the next five years. In response to the need for many more inventory personnel, the Forest Surveys and Inventory Division was created from the Economics Division, and the thirteen researchers remaining were used to reconstitute the Research Division, headed by Dick Spilsbury. The Economics Division was then dissolved on January 1, 1951. The Research Division moved to larger quarters in an old house at 514 Government Street in 1950, where the division remained until the spring of 1980. Only one researcher was stationed outside of Victoria, at Prince George. Spilsbury's goal was to have a researcher in each forest district (now called forest regions). The first Regional Research Officer appointments were Bruce Clark - Kamloops (1954), Mike Stewart - Nelson (1956), and Keith Illingworth - Prince Rupert (1957). The research program grew slowly during this period, and assistance was provided by the Reforestation Division, whose operational staff also conducted experimental projects on a part-time basis. The link
between these two divisions goes back as far as 1941, when the Reforestation
Section of the Economics Division used the Cowichan Lake Experiment Station as a
base for reforestation crews, thus underwriting the operational costs. This
arrangement continued until 1971 and permitted the construction of the cookhouse
(1954) and dormitory (1958). The Reforestation Division often supplied manpower
and equipment to assist with research work. During the 1960s, the number of staff did not change appreciably but the deployment of research resources did. A tree physiologist examined nursery problems, and the tree improvement program expanded to include coastal Douglas-fir, the interior spruces, and lodgepole pine. In 1963 the Aleza Lake Experiment Station was closed down, but in 1967 the Red Rock Nursery and Research Centre was established south of Prince George, in recognition of the need for increased reforestation in central British Columbia. In 1970 about one hectare of Crown land in Saanich, near Victoria, was obtained, and laboratory and greenhouse facilities constructed. The staff at this facility, the Glyn Road Research Station, have devoted themselves to tree seed and tree physiology, soil productivity, and soil processes since then. The decade of the 1970s saw much expansion in the research program, with expenditures and staff levels roughly doubling between 1971 and 1978, during George Warrack's term as Director. The approach to research shifted during the 1970s, with more emphasis being placed on ecological classification and integrated resource management issues. Interdisciplinary teams augmented the individual scientists working in their own specialized research areas. The Forest Research Board was formed from provincial, federal, and industry representatives in 1971 to identify and prioritize research needs. This approach evolved into research advisory committees operating at the regional and provincial levels. In 1976
the Interior Spruce Tree Improvement Program moved to Vernon from Prince George,
establishing the nucleus for the Kalamalka Forestry Centre. In 1980 construction
of the buildings and establishment of the seed orchards began on 73 hectares of
land just south of Vernon. The official opening took place in 1981. Over the
years the station has carried out research on tree improvement for interior
spruces, Douglas-fir, lodgepole pine and western larch; seedling physiology;
stand density management; and fertilization. As a result of the Forest Service reorganization of 1978, the Research Division was renamed the Research Branch and regional researchers came under the auspices of the regional offices. However, the provincial research program ensured that research objectives and project work remained co-ordinated. At the same time, well-defined sections formed within the Branch in Victoria to address specific subjects and resource management problems. Ralph Schmidt served as director from 1978 to 1982 and started the process of more and more issue-oriented rather than discipline-oriented research. This approach enabled research to stay focused as the program expanded to include soils, wildlife habitat, and range management. Additional researchers and support staff were hired until the government-wide restraint programs of 1983. Research priorities were identified and ranked by Regional Research Advisory Committees, and in 1979 the Provincial Research Advisory Committee was established at a higher level. Annual meetings of these groups served to establish direction for a co-ordinated research program to solve problems common to several forest regions. The
directors during this period were Jim Dangerfield (1982-1985) and Keith
Illingworth (1985-1988). Aided by programs such as the Canada/British Columbia
Forest Resource Development Agreement (1985-1990), research and the publication
of research results reached new levels. In the latter 1980s the Branch consisted
of six sections: Forest Renewal, Forest Productivity and Decision Support,
Integrated Resource Management Research, Technical Support, Finance and
Administration, and Communications. After Keith Illingworth's retirement, Research Branch was headed by Dr. Ted Baker. During the 1990s, restructuring of the Ministry of Forests and fiscal restraint measures were major concerns. Issues facing the Ministry were timber supply, land use, forest management practices, economic efficiencies, and First Nations. Research Branch staff were heavily involved in the formulation and implementation of the Forest Practices Code. The Forest Renewal Plan provided funding for research into a wide variety of forest management issues. On July 9, 1992 the Aleza Lake Research Station was rededicated. Although the station itself was closed in 1963, the experiments were never "retired." Remeasurements in the growth and yield plots were carried out more or less on schedule in the ensuing decades, thanks to the foresight and diligence of John Revel and Harry Coates. That work makes possible the analysis of 60 years of forest growth and development at Aleza Lake. In 1998 Ted Baker retired and was replaced by Henry Benskin, then Director of Forest Practices Branch and a long-time former manager of the Silviculture Research Section of Research Branch. In November 2004 Henry Benskin became the Deputy Chief Forester and in February 2007 Gerry Still, the Ecology and Earth Sciences Section Manager, became the Research Branch director. As the program enters the 21st century, the branch faces the challenges of carrying out research required to enhance resource management practices in British Columbia. Also see An Early History of the Research Branch, British Columbia Ministry of Forests and Range.
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