308 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



state timber cut-over lands and prepare 

 maps of forest reserves and each of the 

 timbered counties showing the state lands 

 therein, and shall supply such maps to the 

 district rangers, to tlie officials of the state 

 and counties requiring them, and in all 

 ways that are practical and feasible shall 

 protect such lands from fire and the illegal 

 cutting of timber; he shall report from 

 time to time to the board, such information 

 as may be of benefit to the state in the 

 care and management of its timber; it 

 shall be his duty to inquire into the ex- 

 tent, kind, value and condition of all tim- 

 ber lands; the amount of acres and value 

 of timber that is cut or burned, and he 

 shall also report the quantity and species 

 of second-growth timber, and shall not 

 later than the first of December of each 

 year make a written report to the state 

 forestry board upon all such data ascer- 

 tained by him, and shall recommend 

 therein plans for improving the state sys- 

 tem of forest protection, management, and 

 reforestation. 



Sec. 6. The state forester shall cooperate 

 with the state auditor and with the several 

 departments of the state and federal gov- 

 ernments, or with counties, towns, corpora- 

 tions, and individuals, in the preparation 

 of plans for forest protection, manage- 

 ment, replacement of trees, wood lots, and 

 timber tracts, using his influence as time 

 will permit toward the establishment of 

 scientific forestry principles in the manage- 

 ment and promotion of the forest resources 

 of the state. 



Sec. 7. The state forester shall also co- 

 operate with the state highway commission 

 and with the supervising officers of the 

 various towns and villages in the construc- 

 tion of fire-breaks along section lines and 

 public highways. 



Sec. 8. The state forester may advance, 

 as he deems wise, education in forestry 

 within the state by publications and lec- 

 tures, and upon the invitation of the di- 

 rector of the college of forestry of the Uni- 

 versity of Minnesota may cooperate with 

 the said college so far as his time 

 will permit, and such college shall 

 furnish such aid to him as in the circum- 

 stances is consistent with its own proper 

 functions. 



Sec. 9. It shall be the duty of the state 

 forester to audit and inspect all bills for 

 salary and expenses incurred by the dis- 

 trict rangers and by fire patrolmen for the 

 suppression, checking and control of fires 

 and recommend to the forestry board the 

 amounts justly due and which should be 

 paid. 



Sec. 10. As soon as practicable after this 

 act shall take effect, the state forester may, 

 with the approval of the state forestry 

 board, create and establish patrol districts, 

 including all lands of both state and pri- 

 vate ownership, upon which there is a 

 probability of forest and brush fires start- 

 ing, and establish rangers over the said 

 districts. 



Sec. 11. Under the direction of the state 

 forester, the district rangers are charged 

 with preventing and extinguishing forest 

 fires in their respective districts, and the 

 performance of such other duties as may be 

 required by the state forester. 



They may arrest without warrant any 

 person found violating any provisions of 

 this chapter, take him before a magistrate 

 and there make complaint. When the dis- 

 trict 1- ingers shall have information that 

 such violation has been committed, they 

 shall, without delay, make similar com- 

 plaint, and have the same prosecuted. The 

 district rangers shall not be liable for civil 

 action for trespass committed in the dis- 

 charge of their duties. 



Sec. 12. At any time district rangers, 

 with the approval of the state forester, may 

 employ suitable persons to be known as 

 fire patrolmen, permanently to remain 

 upon and patrol such territory, state or 

 private, as may be assigned to them as 

 long as may be required to prevent and 

 extinguish any fire. Each such patrolman 

 so employed shall be supplied with the nec- 

 essary equipment. The state forester and 

 the district ranger may, and, if they are 

 absent and fires are actually burning In 

 the forest, the fire patrolmen may, summon 

 any male person of the age of IS years and 

 upwards to assist in stopping the fire, and 

 may incur any other necessary and reason- 

 able expense for the same purpose, but 

 shall promptly report the same to the dis- 

 trict ranger. 



Any person summoned by any official of 

 the state who is physically able and re- 

 fuses to assist shall be guilty of a misde- 

 meanor and shall be punishable by a fine 

 of not less than $5.00 and not more than 

 $25.00. 



Sec. 13. When in the judgment of the 

 state forester there is danger of the set- 

 ting and spreading of fires from locomo- 

 tive engines, he shall order any railroad 

 company to provide patrolmen to follow 

 each train throughout such fire patrol dis- 

 trict or districts as he deems necessary to 

 prevent fires. When the state forester has 

 given a railroad company notice to provide 

 such patrol after trains, the said railroad 

 company shall immediately comply with 

 such instructions throughout the territory 

 designated; and upon its failure so to do, 

 the state forester may employ patrolmen 

 with the necessary equipment to patrol the 

 rights of way of said railroad, and the ex- 

 pense of the same shall be charged to the 

 said railroad company and may be recov- 

 ered in a civil action in the name of the 

 state of Minnesota, and in addition thereto, 

 the company shall be guilty of a misde- 

 meanor. 



It is also made the duty of any railroad 

 company, acting independently of such 

 state forester, to patrol its right of way 

 after the passage of each train when nec- 

 essary to prevent the spread of fires and to 

 use the highest degree of diligence to pre- 

 vent the setting and spread of fires, to 



