During the 1920's Forest and Outdoors magazines, an official publication of the Canadian Forestry Association, included a regular section called "Young Canadians", devoted entirely to the activities, interests, and education of boys and girls. The magazine was widely read and very popular, especially among the young people of British Columbia.
In 1929 a story was published in this section which was to have an effect upon its readers - and upon history - far beyond anything its author could have expected. The story was set at Smug Cove on Bowen Island, and concerned a group of boys, friends of the local ranger, who got together to form a club. It tells how they discovered a fire in the bush, reported it to the ranger, and helped him put out the fire.
The response to this story was incredible. Boys from all parts of the province wrote into the author inquiring about joining the club or forming one like it. Somewhat overwhelmed by this reaction, the local manager of the CFA office, Charles Wilkinson, and his associates, looked at each other and said "Why not?"
So the Warden Movement was born. Initially however, the boys were called the Junior Fire Rangers. For each 100 students in a given community, one boy was selected to be a ranger, a representative of the CF, in consultation with the school principal. The boy selected was to act as a fire prevention officer, whose special duty was to inform other students concerning fire laws in particular, and forest conservation in general.
In 1930, 300 boys were appointed. As the boys were concerned mainly with the forests, and to avoid confusion with municipal fire departments, it was decided in 1931 to change the name from Junior Fire Rangers to Junior Forest Wardens. In 1935 the "red shirt" uniform was chosen.
For many years the movement stayed primarily on an individual basis. There were no clubs (or if you like, just one big club). The boys would communicate to headquarters by writing letters. Many of these letters have been preserved in the CFA files - polished and surprisingly mature specimens of an art of communication which, these days, seems lost. Each year, in return, Headquarters would send every boy a package of forestry information, and a copy of the Provincial Government's "Green Book" - a guide for prospectors.
Whenever a CFA lecture car came to town, Junior Forest Wardens would be there in uniform to add some color, and to help out with the show.
It wasn't until 1936 or thereabouts that actual clubs were formed. Here again, the step was initiated by the young people themselves. This was no planned organization, the groups like "Topsy", just grew - spontaneously and eagerly. The first such clubs were in the Vancouver Region because that was where the Wardens were the most concentrated. There being no established training program, the clubs defined their own areas of study. They even invented their own names. The "Conservation Corps" - which specialized in forestry, was one such early club. The "League of Conservationists" was another - specializing in wildlife study.
With the formation of clubs came a demand for more training. Again, the impetus came from the young people, and not their supervisors. They wanted a deeper knowledge of our forest and environment. The memo packages sent from Headquarters began to include progressively more and more resource material on forests and forest lands, and eventually - in accordance with specific suggestions from South Burnaby's Conservation Corps - gave way to a graded training manual with examination and badges for tests successfully passed.
The war effected the Warden movement greatly of course. Many older boys left to serve overseas. The younger ones helped the war effort by selling bonds and stamps and conducting scrap metal drives. In 1944 girls also started becoming involved in the program, and were then known as Girl Forest Guards. 
The 1950's and 60's were years of growth, in activities as well as in numbers, with JFW's spreading to other provinces in Canada. More and more the Wardens and Guards became involved in planning and undertaking public education and forestry projects, displays, and demonstrations. They also participated eagerly in forestry events, such as the "Logger's Show" at the PNE, the "Festival of Forestry", "National Forest Week" and at the "Arbor Day" observances. The Girl Forest Guards became Junior Forest Wardens in 1974 as clubs became co-ed.
The 80's also saw many changes in the Junior Forest Wardens, as we worked to change our program - focusing on the four main component areas of Forestry, Ecology, Woodstravel, and Leadership. This included the development of a new set of training manuals for both Wardens and Leaders, and a new badge system for the uniform shirt. The 80's also saw the first of our "National Campouts", which have been held every 3-5 years over the past two decades - with Wardens from British Columbia to as far east as Newfoundland taking part in a week-long event in the summer.
As the 90's approached, there were big changes afoot for the Junior Forest Wardens in BC. Our story continues here.
