Just south of the Arctic circle and stretches in a great continuous belt across Canada, Europe and Asia. We have been dealing with the land of ice and snow. Now as we travel southwards, we find that the temperature is higher and the vegetation changes from moss and lichen to small and scattered trees like the willow and the birch. These trees grow larger as we move southwards until we find dense coniferous forests. The greatest single belt of coniferous forest is the taiga (Russian word for coniferous forests in Siberia.
The bitterly cold winter lasts for a long period of about seven months, and the temperature sometimes drops to as low as 30 degree cilices. The summers are cool and brief, lasting for about three to four months. The highest temperature is about 15 degree cilices in July. During the summer there are long hours of day night- Some times as much as 18 hours. There is just enough heat to melt the snow. Spring and autumn are very brief-about two to four weeks each.
The rainfall is about 200mm in summer and about 25mm during the rest of the year. As the soil is grayish –white in color and not very fertile, only sturdy trees grow here.
As most of the trees here (pines, firs and larches) are cone- shaped, they are called conifers. This shape is very useful as it prevents snow from collecting on the branches and weighting them down. They are evergreen, that is, they do not shed all their leaves (or needles, as they are usually called), at the same time. They have a thick bark so as to protect the trunks from the extreme cold. The food is stored in the trunk. The strong wind just blows through the forests as the needles –shaped leaves do not offer any resistance. These leaves are also small, thick and leathery. This prevents the loss of moisture during the summer months. Remember our climb up Mount Everest? We saw red and white pines, spruce, larch, Douglas firs and balsam firs just like these.
These trees differ from other trees in that the wood is soft and can be easily worked on. This wood is used to make paper, rayon, matches and plywood. So lumbering is an important occupation in North Canada.
As the cutting of trees is known as lumbering, the woodcutter in these parts is known as a lumberjack. These men have to be very tough, as lumbering is a difficult job.
The lumberjacks of Quebec leave their homes as the end of autumn and go to the lumber cams in the middle forest. The lumber camp is made up of number of wooden houses with bunks of sleeping. There is a washroom, with toilet facilities. The officials live in the staff houses some distances away. There is a common dining hall and a kitchen. There is also a store (shop) where the men can buy tobacco, writing paper and some other necessities. The life of a lumberjack is a difficult one. Very early in the morning, they eat a heavy breakfast of porridge, eggs, meat and potatoes, bread and coffee. They carry their own packed lunch. Before sunrise, they set off in horse- drawn sledges.
Group of men which include a head feller are dropped off at different points. The head-feller marks off certain trees and the direction in which they should fall. The lumberjack starts sawing with a trouble-toothed cross cut saw or a motor –powered saw, which, of course, makes the work quicker and easier.
After they have cut about twenty trees, they set about lopping off the branches and cutting the trunks into convenient logs, each about 2.5 meters long, which are then stacked. After he has worked all day, a lumberjack walks back to camp for a hearty dinner and then to early bed.
The logs are taken to the frozen river either by sledges drawn by horses or by a winch to which a cable is attached. They are left there until the spring thaw sets in and the ice melts and carries them downstream to the saw-mills. The larger logs sawn into planks but the smaller ones are ground to pulp for paper.
There is always the danger of a forest fire breaking out and so lumberjacks have to keep a vigilant watch.