MANITOBA CONSERVATION

MANITOBA became a province in 1870 but control and  protection of all natural resources remained with the federal government until July 15, 1930. Forestry issues were administered by the Dominion Forest Service, protection of game by the Department Agriculture and fisheries matters the Federal Department of Marine and Fisheries. Today's natural resource officers originated from these three main branches of the federal government.

The largest was the Dominion Forest Service. The first Dominion Land Act was enacted in 1872 and was followed by the Forest Reserve and Parks Act in 1911. With the transfer of natural resources to the province in 1930 a Provincial Forestry Service was formed. It took over the administration of forestry affairs on crown land. This included fire protection, timber harvesting, reforestation and the administration of summer resorts. Many of the Dominion Forest Officers were given the option of remaining in the federal service or working in the newly formed Provincial Forest Service. Many chose to work for the new provincial organization bringing with them the methodology and field practices in use at the time. The Forest Service, as originally organized, was headed by the Provincial Forester and the province was divided into four forest districts, each headed by a district forester. The forest districts were again divided into ranger districts, each with a forest ranger. In 1960 the province had a field staff of 50 forest rangers.

In the early days travel in the district was done mainly by horse, walking or in the winter months by skiing and snowshoes. Even in the early days field staff appeared to bear the brunt of government restraint as noted in a transfer letter to a forest ranger from the district forester which read as follows: "Please be advised that your effective date of transfer from Lac du Bonnet District to the Garland District has been confirmed. Since Garland District is somewhat smaller and can be traveled by snowshoes you will no longer be paid $1.50 per month for the use of your horses."

The forest ranger busy in the winter checking sawmill sites and logging camps in his district. Often he was gone for several days at a time as he would overnight at certain

camps before he made his circuit. In the summer his work turned to fire fighting as noted by one young forest ranger stationed at Mafeking. "Ray was eager to learn but knew little of firefighting at the time. He left camp with 106 local firefighters, but the fire cut off their route and they slept under the trees. Shovels and axes were their only tools and travel was by foot from the nearest lake where a

plane had dropped them off. At 7:00 am the next morning Ray turned his radio on and his supervisor called. "Well Ray you can start buying cigars, your wife Pat had a baby boy last night." Ray wept with joy, however, it would be two more days before he could leave the bush to see his son.

The Wildlife Branch was next in field officer numbers. In 1876 Manitoba proclaimed it's first Game Preservation Act. The Game Protection Act of 1879 provided for the appointment of voluntary guardians to enforce provisions of the act. By 1883 local game guardians were at work in Manitoba. but it was not until 1902 that a Provincial Game Guardian was appointed. He was C. Barker and he occupied the position until 1919. In 1905 an additional employee was added and in 1909 John Keyes and
William H. Joyce were hired as deputies. By May 1, 1920 prosecution of game matters were handled by CANADA seven inspectors and game guardians of the Manitoba Provincial Police. That changed on July 15, 1930 when the Department of Mines and Natural Resources took over the control and administration of forestry, fire protection, game and fisheries.

Game management personnel transferred from the Department of Agriculture to this new department. The new game branch consisted of a director, chief game guardian, eight permanent and four temporary game guardians. Game guardians carried out continual patrols. The main problems involved closed season hunting and poaching in game preserves and bird sanctuaries. The director of the game branch at that time, A. G. Cunningham, wrote: 'Efficient game enforcement has been rendered very difficult owing to the number of game guardians that could be employed due to the present economic situation."

Game wardens often worked alone or in isolated and remote communities. Since there was a lack of efficient communication with their supervisor they were required to keep a very detailed daily log. In one annual report it stated that game guardians traveled a total of 196,772 miles to patrol their districts. They used dog teams for 1,376 miles, horses for 3,467 miles and foot for 8,912 miles.