102 AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Oregon. Most of the other mountain States can not receive this assistance 

 because they are not themselves making proper provision for fire protection 

 under State direction. 



PROGRESS IN I'RIVATE FORESTRY 



The real advance made in private forestry during the past year has been 

 in fire protection. Woodland owners are coming more and more to realize 

 the damage done by forest fires, and are taking action on their own initiative 

 to secure better protection. Taking the country as a whole, the damage by 

 fires is becoming more and more localized. There have been, for example, 

 during the past summer, very serious fires in certain localities, chiefly in 

 centers of prolonged drought. But the number of disastrous fires is decreasing 

 and they are not as widely distributed as formerly. The average farmer is today 

 endeavoring to keep fire out of his woods, so that the damage to the small 

 woodlots has been very greatly reduced. Among the large timber tracts the 

 situation is also better than ever before. Not only have the individual private 

 owners in many sections increased their efforts in fire protection, but there 

 has been an extension of the idea of co-operative fire protection among owners 

 of contiguous lands. The work of the fire protective associations is from 

 year to year more effective as the organization is perfected and the force gains 

 experience. An important factor in the fire protective work on private lands 

 has been the increased assistance given by the states and by the Federal 

 Government. The problem of fire protection on private lands is as yet by no 

 means solved. The great gains during the last few years, however, show that 

 in certain regions at least we are on the road to gaining mastery over the 

 worst enemy of the forests. 



Protection from fire is only the first step in forestry. Protection alone will 

 not ensure the continuance of forest production. Without the use of forestry 

 methods, ordinary lumbering results in a continued reduction of growth of 

 valuable species. 



The problem of forest production is making advances only in those regions 

 where there is a good market for forest products. In such regions, as for 

 instance in New England, the woodland owners are coming more and more 

 to adopt careful methods of cutting, and in a great many instances are 

 planting trees. 



On the other hand, the handling of large timber tracts with a view to 

 continued forest i)roduction has made but little progress. The number of 

 large owners doing any work in forestry beyond fire protection is exceedingly 

 small, and very few of them see any prospect of much being accomplished 

 by them under the present conditions. 



The problem of the large owner is a peculiar one. Ordinarily, he has 

 purchased the land for the merchantable timber upon it and does not expect 

 to retain ownership of the property after cutting. He usually has no special 

 plans regarding the future disposition of the land. He may hope to sell a 

 portion of it for agricultural development; the balance, which is unsuited to 

 agriculture, he will disi)ose of in whatever way will bring in the greatest 



