The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-06-03
CANADA CALLS FOREST CAMPS
 BOON TO IDLE
British Columbia Project Gives 4,OO0 Men
 New Start
By DAVID SAVAGE (United Press Staff Correspondent)

NUutteQ fTeSS StaM COffeSp0n0ent)
 Vancouver, June 3-UP)-Brit- ish Columbia,s forest development project, a program providing winter work for single, unemployed men, evidences of increasing returns in has closed its second season with reclamation of men as well as trees.
 Acting under the provincial de- partmentS of lands and labor, the F. D. P. removed 4,000 men of all ages and types from city streets and rebuilt them in body and spirit as they in turn rebuilt forests.
 Enrolled in Vancouver, the men worked in 25 camps in forests and beauty spots on the mainland and on Vancouver Island. By system of deferred payment, they earned enough money to last them after leaving camp at the rate of $4 a week until the frs tweek of May. Groups of men left the camps in rotation as their deferred pay reached the required amount.
 Expense Is Divided
 Half the cost of the project, ex- cluding administration expenses, was provided by the dominion gov- ernment. Staffs and foremen ere supplied by the provincial forestry department.
 The work consisted mainly of de- veloping natural parks and forests, protecting and developing water sheds, improving provincial forest reserves, and forest protection.
 By making roads, trails, bridges, building picnic shelters, tables, fire places and conveniences, the men opened up and developed such scenic areas as spectacular Elk Falls on Campbell river, Vancouver Island, and Capilano Canyon outside Van- couver.
 Typical of the forest coinserva- tion and reclamation work was the program of Campbell river, where 5000 SnagS, partly burned trees left by loggers and constituting a fire hazard, were removed and replaced with seedlings that will make a new forest.
 The spirit of the men in the camps was praised. No man was hand-picked - unemployment and lack of means of support was the only qualification for enrolment. N0 resident of Canada was dis craminated against or favored by reason of race, religion, or politics. Every camp had it's games or con- ce1ts, and some even published camp papers.
 Many Transients Aided
 Of the total number of men en- rolled last season, nearly 2,000 were Canadians, about 1,250 from Great Britain or the other dominions, and about 300 were foreign. No less than 35 per cent were transients. Evi- dence of the popularity of the scheme was furnished when last year nearly 1900 of the men en- rolled had also enrolled the previ- ouS year.
 A long chain of benefits has been found to follow creation of the employment scheme. Bublic funds are not spent with no return as in the case of direct relief. ReforeSta- tion and development of beauty spots means protection of a vital in- dustry and encouragement of tour ists, it is pointed out. With the reclamation of forests and water sheds comes the consequent bene- fit to fish and game in these areas, which in turn provides more sport fnys fhn hIlntar and QnQ1pr
 Most important to many, how ' ever, is the list of accomplishments is the reclamation of the men them selves, an asset that cannot be measured in dollars and cents. Many went to the forests in poor condition and came hack healthy