FORESTRY CONFERENCE AT VANCOUVER 



IN describing various movements to- 

 ward securing better forestry con- 

 ditions, chiefly of improved protec- 

 tion against forest fires, E. T. Allen, 

 forester of the Western Forestry and 

 Conservation Association, said at its 

 annual meeting held in December at 

 Vancouver, B. C. : 



"The National Conservation Con- 

 gress, a yearly gathering of prominent 

 and influential people which has possi- 

 bilities of much power, good or bad, has 

 in the past offered us some opportunity 

 but not as much as we wished. This 

 year, through co-operation suggested by 

 us last fall to its officials and the Ameri- 

 can Forestry Association, it not only 

 gave forest economics a large share of 

 its main program but also provided for 

 a separate sectional meeting on forestry 

 and lumbering which was a tremendous 

 success. Ten expert committees were 

 appointed last spring to bring in reports 

 on forest legislation, taxation, fire meth- 

 ods, utilization and like ])ractical sub- 

 jects and $5,000 was contributed by the 

 American Forestry Association to give 

 them publicity. We were invited to di- 

 rect much of this work. The result 

 was not only to get for the first time 

 a broad practical treatment of all these 

 subjects before the public in a form be- 

 yond suspicion of selfish interest, and 

 with western conditions fully consid- 

 ered, but also to cement an alliance with 

 all workers along these lines in the 

 country so as to keep up such co-opera- 

 tion hereafter in short, our associa- 

 tion now has national as well as western 

 influence. 



Mr. Allen went on to tell of the work 

 of his association by saying: "We have 

 at last arrived at a point where our or- 

 ganization affords absolute fire protec- 

 tion in the normal season. To put it 

 another way, we can practically insure 

 our timber for the normal year at the 

 present price of supporting the organ- 

 ization we have developed. For suc- 



cess was by no means due wholly, or 

 even chiefly, to weather conditions. 

 Representative private and official pro- 

 tective agencies throughout the Pacific 

 Northwest States were asked to submit 

 a comparison of this season's hazard 

 with that of other seasons. While there 

 is some local variation in such compari- 

 son, the consensus is that while 1913 

 hazard did not tax 1913 facilities over- 

 hard, this was because facilities were 

 improved. The season itself was of av- 

 erage difficulty. Montana reports it *as 

 great or greater than usual' ; Idaho 'av- 

 erage, excepting the unusually dry sea- 

 sons of 1905 and 1910.' Washington, 

 'not as bad as 190^ and 1910, or quite so 

 bad as 1911, but worse than 1912 and 

 averaging with other past years' ; Ore- 

 gon, 'about an average year, taking all 

 together.' " 



President A. L. Flewelling, in an in- 

 cisive address and speaking from the 

 viewpoint of a practical man, said con- 

 siderable of particular interest to for- 

 esters : 



"The subject of forestry in the last 

 decade has engrossed the public mind 

 more than any other of the live issues 

 discussed. It has been heralded from 

 the pulpit, the rostrum and through the 

 public press of all civilized countries, 

 and the thought that in time the world 

 would be denuded of its forests and 

 \erdure, with all the dire calamities 

 which would logically follow, has been 

 scattered broadcast by impassioned ut- 

 terance and scarehead articles until the 

 public mind has almost reached a con- 

 dition of panic. A class of hysterical 

 people have been handling the subject, 

 who never owned any trees or ever 

 looked a payroll in the face — all good 

 people according to their lights, but 

 more often insane than sane in their 

 statement of facts and conclusions of 

 results. They have so wrought upon 

 the public mind that the subject has 

 become chaotic, and it has become nec- 



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