I 



NOW FOR FOREST FIRE CONTROL 



BY ALFRED GASKILL, STATE FORESTER. NEW JERSEY 



T IS time to face squarely the situation in which the that in some sections droughts must be counted ujion at 

 country is placed with respect to forest fires, and the certain seasons : that careless hunters, thoughtless smok- 

 ers, and often the farmers clearing their land, are 

 weighty factors in the problem. 



if the Federal Forest Service announces, as it recently 

 announced, that a million dollars have been spent, the 

 past season in fighting fires on the national forests, the 



jjart that they play in the effort to satisfy the Nation's 

 future need for lumber. The thoughtful jntblic is more 

 or less familiar with the havoc that is wrought by forest 

 fires — the human lives, the towns and villages, the stand- 

 ing timber, the growing forests that yearly are sacrificed ; 



it knows little of the conditions which bring about this public accepts this fact and inquires no further. The 



destruction. That ])art of the population which lives in statement that in one of the states a billion feet of timber 



and near the woodlands knows so much that it is in- has been destroyed is apt to be interpreted in the light 



dift'erent and callous. It often looks U])i)n the fires as of an understanding that there is ])lentv left. If one of 



A liLKM-.O I'OKh.M 

 This photograph represents puljlic wastefulness. The forest is unattractive and produces no luniher. 



inevitable and as not always undesirable. Ii starts tires 

 thoughtlessly and does little to control them. .\ season 

 of comparative immunity from serious fires serves to lull 

 the public, the press, the legislatures, and even the inter- 

 ests most concerned, into fancied security. The lessons 

 of the past are forgotten until the next great fire comes. 

 When the situation is more carefully considered it is 

 apt to be dismissed with an assertion that the railroads 

 are responsible, or that the season was exceptionally dry, 

 or that electric storms set the woods afire ; in short that 

 forest fires are inevitable. Though it is a fact that all 

 these agencies are potent, it still is tremendously true 

 that the railroad tires are only a part of those that start ; 



1U9 



the smaller states encounters and subdues several hun- 

 dred fires in a season, the actual menace and tiie loss 

 esca|)ed are little considered. 



It is imperative that we recognize tiie seriousness of 

 our position and take measures in every state to over- 

 come the infiuences, whatever they be, which are causing 

 the destruction of the timber sujjply upon which the ne.xt 

 generation must dejiend. ]\Iore than that, our present 

 policv tends deliberately to foster the wasteful hal>its in 

 which the ])eople of .\merica have been brought u]i. The 

 sight upon every hand of vast areas given over to waste 

 through fire is demoralizing. In many sections the de- 

 moralization goes so far that the \alue of agriculliual 



