[Annotation copied from Lynham et al. 2002(https://www.frames.gov/rcs/18000/18093.html)] Forest fires have been quite common in the history of Northern Ontario and a large part of the Clay Belt has been burned in the last one hundred and fifty years. The result of the fire depends largely on the stand of timber present at the time of burning. For this reason the following divisions are formed in considering the effect of burns: 1. Type I - Slopes 2. Type II - Flats and Swamps 3. Young Stands & Recent Burns. 1. TYPE I: Fires in this association produce the greatest variety depending upon the intensity of the fire and the original composition of the stand. A light fire will open up the stand and leave considerable residual trees and advance growth. This is similar to the opening of an over-mature stand by windfall. The resulting new crop will contain a large proportion of balsam. The greater tolerance of balsam is the main factor. Added to this a certain amount of balsam advance growth will survive. However, the majority of fires cannot be classed as light, they are severe or heavy and fires resulting in a new stand of balsam are rare. The reproduction following an ordinary fire is mainly spruce. Poplar and in some cases white birch will form a part of the stand but the coniferous component is entirely spruce. Where the original forest has been a pure hardwood type, the regeneration will be poplar and birch. For some unknown reason balsam will not come in: this may possibly be due to the supply of seed. The balsam cones disperse their seed and disintegrate during the winter and early spring after they mature. It has been observed that a fire in a black spruce stand does not consume the extreme tip of the trees and the cones. Black spruce has a structure peculiar to no other tree. The cones are aggregated at the very top of the tree and occupy two to three feet. Below this clump, the trunk is clear for another two feet, while not all the individual trees have this form, a great many of the mature black spruce do exhibit this phenomenon. It has been attributed partially to squirrels; certainly squirrels do nip off many of the twigs during the late fall. The clear portion on the trunk acts as a barrier to the fire and in many cases the cones are scorched but not consumed. In black spruce the cones are persistent and serotinous; this provides a plentiful supply of viable seed after the fire and consequently black spruce forms a part of the new stand. Large over-mature white spruce, found on most well-drained slopes, also furnish good seed for the new crop. 2. TYPE II: For spruce flats and spruce swamps there is no doubt about the regeneration following a fire, it is invariably black spruce. Balsam, white spruce, poplar and birch are confined to Type I and leave the poorly-drained locations to black spruce. On the very wet sites tamarack may be present but only in small quantities and it does not compete with the spruce to any extent. 3. YOUNG STANDS AND RECENT BURNS: Forest fires are not nearly as disastrous, in certain stands, as the public imagines. Overmature stands, which cannot be cut in the near future, are much better if burned and converted into young fast-growing forests. Likewise inaccessible mature stands, which, according to the working plan, cannot be cut during the next rotation, would be more profitable if burned. This does not mean that fires are a cure-all and that the forests should be burned indiscriminately. Fire, in recent burns and in young stands, which have not yet borne seed can cause great damage. Here following a fire there is no regeneration or a little poplar and birch at the most. Therefore, such a fire will seriously affect the rotation. Alder, raspberry and other weed species take possession of the area and, unless planting is done, it will be years before commercial species regain control The present stands may be roughly divided into two classes based on origin: 1. THE BURNS WHICH ARE THE RESULT OF FIRES: With the exception of the very wet, true muskegs, the whole area has been burned over at least once and often several times. Fire, in northern Ontario causes an even-aged forest. The composition of the new stands depends on the site and particularly the drainage. (a) Well-drained sites: On the well-drained slopes, river banks, ridges and high ground, the fire type consists of spruce and poplar. Birch does not occur uniformly over the area, but is confined to isolated portions which bear an almost pure hardwood stand of poplar and birch. Balsam is generally lacking in the young stands. Observations over wide areas have led to the conclusion that the climax forest type on these well-drained sites does not resemble the fire type at all. The climax association is an uneven-aged stand of balsam which develops from the spruce and poplar mixture. The latter grown rapidly until it is about 100 years old. About this time balsam appears in the understory. There are always widely scattered balsam of the same age as the spruce and poplar. Small balsam seedlings first appear under the stand at 50 years of age. These are greatly suppressed but persist. As the stand ages the number of balsam increases. (b) Poorly-drained flats and swamps: Where the drainage is poor as on flats and in swamps the original fire stands and the climax stands are not radically different. The stand is at all time preponderantly spruce. Balsam and birch may be present in small amounts and larch is common on the very wet sites. Immediately following the fire alder may take possession of the area. For a number of years this scrub growth will suppress the spruce. At about twenty-five years the alder dies off allowing the spruce to advance normally. Growth continues for possibly a hundred years then the stand tends to thin out. Loss from decimation more than offsets the increase in the individual trees. Alder and scrub cedar now enter the composition but do not form part of the crown cover. The spruce regenerates very slowly in the openings and consists of a very few stems per acre. The cordage is low, in very old stands and may drop to four or five cords per acre. From the above it follows that the burns are beneficial for both dry slope stands (Type I) and swamp stands (Type II). In the former the climax type is uneven-aged balsam and in the latter scattered spruce with cedar and alder. The yields from these over-mature stands are considerably below normal and a fire would put them back on a productive basis. It is not suggested that the country be burned at random. Repeated fires are undoubtedly injurious to the soil and on dry sites may lead to pure hardwood stands. But over-mature stands which for economic reasons, cannot be logged, should be burned in order to provide for the future. 2. THE MUSKEGS WHICH HAVE NEVER BEEN BURNED: The only stands which occupy a considerable part of the area and are not fire types are muskegs. These have developed from the filling in of lakes during the past centuries.