The wealth of space and airborne imagery in Canada has 
never been as great as today. Real-time, repeated, multi- 
spectral and multiscale imagery may all be available for a 
specific area under study. An interpreter might choose one 
type of imagery only, but in fact he has the comfortable option 
of using them all if required. His choice could reveal the 
exact information wanted in a fraction of the time and cost of 
traditional means. For example, the recent major forest fires 
in Northwestern Ontario, including an area of 607,000 hectares, 
were mapped from ERTS - Band 6 imagery by the Ontario Centre 
for Remote Sensing. The cost incurred for imagery and the 
labour of the OCRS was $518. The traditional survey, which 
included sketching from airplane and ground sampling with 
helicopter transport, cost $13,300 for the same area. This 
cost comparison shows that fire mapping by remote sensing was 
twenty-six times cheaper than by traditional means. Consequent 
ly, policy makers of provincial governments should be made 
aware that remote sensing techniques could replace traditional 
techniques, and that new money is not necessarily needed beyond 
the existing budget. In fact the financing of a remote sensing 
trial may require only a fraction of the budget of an approved 
program. Thus, the risk of obtaining proof of economical 
benefits is minimal. 
A requirement of new funds for remote sensing is antici 
pated when there is no other practical way of handling a job, 
such as drainage tile discoveries on farmlands, temperature 
plume delineations and monitoring in lakes at power generator 
outlets, determination of physical parameters for inaccessable 
areas, etc. 
Finally, a remark about the relationship between produc 
tion, research and training in the interpretation aspect of 
remote sensing. The interpretation of a variety of imagery 
with spectral, scale and dimensional characteristics is a highly 
visual effort that takes specific human qualities plus exper 
ience to master. Therefore, interpretation, research and 
training cannot be handled adequately unless they are based on 
practice. The researcher must be fully aware of the real 
problems to be investigated, and the teacher must be fully 
conversant with the elements and local characteristics of the 
subject matter. If interpretation production, research and 
training are exercised in harmony, as a team effort, within a 
regional centre, that centre will possess the essential 
ingredients to be a successful crusader for remote sensing.