THE FOREST CODE AND THE REGIME FORESTIER 



1457 



sons authorized by him, or in the case of fires necessary in 

 the exercise of pubhc franchises. A fine of from 6 to lo 

 francs is imposed for refusing or neglecting to render aid 

 in fighting forest fires when called upon to do so. The 

 French point of view toward forest conservation is well 

 illustrated by the provision that while the incendiary fir- 

 ing of cut forest products is penalized by imprisonment 

 at forced labor for limited periods, an incendiary fire in 

 a forest is punishable by imprisonment at forced labor 

 for life. 



A special fire code has been developed by recent legis- 

 lation for the forests of iVIaures and Esterel, bordering 

 the Mediterranean coast, whose dry conditions and con- 

 sequent fire hazard are comparable to our southwest. All 

 owners in this region are 

 prohibited from the use of 

 light burning to destroy 

 underbrush, a practice 

 formerly common in con- 

 nection with the harvesting 

 of cork oak bark. All fires 

 within 200 meters of any 

 area of forest or brush land 

 are forbidden, on the part 

 of the owner or anyone 

 else, from June first to Sep- 

 tember thirtieth. The Pre- 

 f et ( Departmental gover- 

 nor) alone may, upon the 

 recommendation of the 

 Forest Conservator, permit 

 charcoal burning or fires 

 for other industrial piu'- 

 poses within the restricted 

 areas during this hazardous 

 period. Any owner of for- 

 est or brush land in this dis- 

 trict can compel an adjoin- 

 ing neighbor to clear and 

 maintain jointly, at the 

 limits of contiguous hold- 

 ings, a fire trench which 

 must be kept clean of 

 herbs, brush, and resinous 

 trees. In default of a 

 friendly agreement, the 

 width of such trenches, 

 within limits of 20 to 50 

 meters, is fixed by the 

 prefet. This law has been widely employed by the state 

 to protect the borders of public forests. Similarly, rail- 

 ways traversing forest or brush lands in this region can 

 be required to clear and maintain fire breaks 20 meters 

 wide on each side of their right of way. The railroad 

 must make its own settlement with adjoining land owners 

 who are afifected. One of the most interesting and con- 

 structive features of the fire code for southwestern 

 France is the ofifer of state aid to communes in the con- 

 struction of roads designed to complete the system of 

 fire defense. The assistance ofTered is 3,000 francs per 



CHARCOAL PRODUCTION 



This is an important forest industry in France and is 

 ing a great deal of small material. In the French 

 this close utilization, very little is wasted. 



kilometer of road, probably half of the average cost of 

 construction. The real value of the "regime forestier" to 

 France does not consist in its elaborate and painstaking 

 legal code. It can be gauged only in appreciation of the 

 administrative skill of the French, of their practical genius 

 for co-operation, and of the high intelligence of many 

 elements in the rural population of the country which has 

 resulted in extending the technical practice in public for- 

 ests far beyond their own limited area. The public for- 

 ests form but a third of the forested land in France. But 

 they and their staff of trained officers are present in every 

 section. Their administrative methods set the standards, 

 and their results demonstrate good forestry practice 

 to every timber owner in France. How to cut and 



reproduce timberlands has 

 thus become common 

 knowledge. It is the rule 

 to find the local Conserva- 

 teur des Eaux et Forets the 

 recognized authority of his 

 Department on forestry 

 matters, the leader in dis- 

 cussions of its local prob- 

 lems, the adviser of forest 

 owners of all classes who 

 come to him for counsel. 

 This process has led indeed 

 to forms of direct co-opera- 

 tion, in the special recogni- 

 tion given to associations 

 of forest owners and in the 

 f)pportunity to place private 

 holdings under the techni- 

 cal methods and legal pro- 

 tection of the "regime" at 

 cost. The "regime fores- 

 tier" is thus the core of 

 French forestry. 



This fact points out a 

 clear road to the United 

 States. In the beginnings 

 of our forestry develop- 

 ment, public forests under 

 technical admin istration 

 should have a dominant 

 part. They should be pres- 

 ent in every section. They 

 should be identified with its 

 local problems of fire haz- 

 ard, of timber growth, and of provision for future 

 needs. They should develoj) the silvicultural practices 

 adapted to our varied types of forest and make them com- 

 mon knowledge by concrete demonstration, the most 

 efl^ective of all educational measures. We will do well 

 to adopt on a large scale the admirable French institution 

 of communal forests. We need State Forests in every 

 state and we need a large expansion of our National 

 Forests, to include every forest region in the Union. In 

 democratic America as in democratic France, a corps of 

 ]niblic forests will be the key to effective i)rogress. 



a means of utiliz- 

 forests because of 



