TWENTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL MEETING 



71 



Washington as a whole has been estimated at 

 $5,000,000. The legislatures of these two 

 states, meeting in 1903, with this experience 

 fresh in mind, took up the matter, and the 

 first Washington forest fire law was passed. 

 This law provided for a complete system of 

 state officials, including a State Fire Warden 

 and deputy wardens in each county. The 

 law provided adequate punitive measures, 

 and for the issuing of permits by deputy 

 wardens to those wishing to burn clearings 

 and slashings during the closed season. 

 Owing to the inability to secure an appro- 

 priation, the duty of State Fire Warden was 

 imposed upon the State Land Commissioner, 

 and the duty of county deputies was im- 

 posed upon the county commissioners of the 

 several counties. There being no funds avail- 

 able and no one particularly to handle the 

 work, but little was accomplished except in 

 tlie creation of sentiment and in the reduc- 

 tion of risk through the permit system. 



A somewhat similar law was prepared for 

 Oregon, passing the legislature, but was 

 vetoed by Governor Chamberlain, owing to 

 the fact that it called for a small appro- 

 priation. 



In the session of 1905 a new law was intro- 

 duced in. the Washington legislature, pro- 

 viding for a State Forestry Board of five 

 members. State Fire Warden, for deputies 

 in the several timber counties, for the em- 

 ployment of outside aid in controlling fires, 

 and for the issuing of permits by the county 

 deputies for the burning of slashings. The 

 sum of $7,500 was appropriated to carry on 

 this work for the years 1905 and 1906, be- 

 sides $2,500 for the use of the State Land 

 Office, which was expended under the direc- 

 tion of the Chief Fire Warden. The entire 

 appropriation was consumed the first year. 

 Deputies were maintained in the timber 

 counties during the dangerous season, and 

 good results were accomplished, especially 

 in the creation of sentiment and in the 

 bringing about of a respect for the officers 

 of the law, several arrests and convictions 

 having been made for violation of the law. 



During the year 1906 the Washington work 

 was carried on by voluntary subscription, 

 amounting to $12,000, by lumbermen and 

 timber-land owners. In the session of 1907, 

 the appropriation for the two years of 1907 

 and 1908 was $26,000. The expenditures for 

 1907 were $9,454.28, and for 1908, $13,617.20. 



The Idaho legislature in the session of 

 1905 enacted a law which provided in the 

 main for the control of the forest fire work 

 under the supervision of the State Land 

 Board. It provided for violations of the 

 punitive features of the law, but made no 

 specific appropriation for the carrying out of 

 its provisions. In the year 1907 a new law 

 was passed, facilitating the formation of pri- 

 vate protective associations in the principal 

 timber districts of the state, and allowing 

 for the participation of the state in this 

 work upon the basis of the cost for the 



acreage owned by the state in those dis- 

 tricts. 



In 1905 the Oregon legislature passed a 

 law providing for a State Board of For- 

 estry, drawn from the different affiliated 

 boards of the state and from timber owners, 

 and providing for the formation of volunteer 

 organizations for the purpose of fighting 

 fire, the expense of which was to be borne 

 by the members of these associations. The 

 sum of $250 was appropriated for the ex- 

 penses of the State Board for the past two 

 years. 



The State of Montana has, as yet, no 

 special forest fire legislation, either in the 

 way of providing state machinery for the 

 work, or for the facilitating of private asso- 

 ciations in their work. 



We have in the Pacific Northwest three 

 agencies engaged in forest-fire protection : 



First, the National Government, through 

 the Forest Service; 



Second, the different states, through their 

 various forest-fire systems; and, 



Third, private timber-land owners, through 

 associated work, and also through private 

 initiative. 



The protection of the National forest and 

 the work of the Forest Service does not come 

 properly under the heading of this paper; 

 and of the state work, in the area under dis- 

 cussion outside of the State of Washington, 

 the results show entirely in the work of the 

 private associations, which will be taken up 

 later. 



The work of the Washington Forest Fire 

 Service has been encouraging in its results, 

 but its effectiveness has been largely handi- 

 capped by the low salaries provided for in 

 the law. It is impossible to obtain compe- 

 tent county wardens at $3 per day. It has 

 been the policy of the State Board to ex- 

 pend the meager funds at its command 

 largely in the support of the organization ; 

 that is, the employment of the county depu- 

 ties and the State Warden's office. Nature 

 has been very kind to us during the past four 

 years, and we have not been called upon to 

 meet a very dangerous situation. However 

 one fire in Stevens County, in the year 1908, 

 called for the expenditure by the state of 

 nearly $5,000. When it is realized that the 

 appropriation for one year's work was only 

 $13,000, and that the work must be distrib- 

 uted over twenty-two counties, and for an 

 average of nearly 100 days of the season, 

 it will be seen that there is available in each 

 county only about $5 per day, which is cer- 

 tainly a most inadequate amount for the 

 protection of resources of such magnitude. 



At the beginning of the season of 1908 

 there was formed the Washington Forest 

 Fire Association, comprising a membership 

 of 130 owners of western Washington 

 timber land, and representing an acreage 

 of approximately two and one-half million 

 acres. The object of this association was 

 to supplement the work of the State in 



