A VIGOEOUS PlIOTEST 173 



(November 11 to 22), afforded almost ideal conditions and the amount of 

 damage done to the reproduction caused from the disposal of the brush from 

 about 10,000,000 feet was almost negligible. 



As a protective measure against fire, about four miles of tire lines on 

 the Marsh Company's sale area was constructed during the fall by men not 

 in the service, but employed by the service for this work, under the superv Ision 

 of a forest officer. The construction of the line consisted of clearing a trail 

 eight feet wide of all debris and piling it so as to be burned. The line was 

 made between the sale area and private land, a good deal of which was slash 

 from the Marsh Lumber Company's own private cutting. This system of pro- 

 tection will be conducted on all the sale areas of the forest. The fire lines 

 not only afford ready help in case of forest fire, but also make up a fine 

 network of useful trails on many portions of the forest as the timber is 

 removed. 



05 



A VIGOROUS PROTEST 



;r. GIFFORD PINCHOT, one of the vice-presidents of the American 

 Forestry Association, has issued an appeal to Congress in which he 

 makes a vigorous protest against the proposed reduction of the an- 

 nual appropriation for fighting forest fires, from |1,000,000 to |200,000. 

 He points out that the value of the forests of this country is estimated at 

 fifty million dollars with a potential value of a billion dollars, not con- 

 sidering the protective value of the forests on the stream flow. 



Mr. Pinchot says that the emergency forest fire fund of the Forest 

 ►Service should be at least $500,000. He says : 



"The protection of public property and of the lives of settlers, their 

 wives and children, as well as of public servants in the National forests, 

 lies close to the public welfare. It is easy to malign the Forest Service 

 as certain members of Congress are accustomed to do. But it is much easier 

 to malign the Forest Rangers than it is to do their brave and efficient work 

 on the fire line. We must not let false economy further imperil the safety 

 of the public resources and the protection of human lives." 



During the month of January more than 30,000 acres of land in Montana 

 and Oregon were recommended by the United States Geological Survey for 

 designation as enterable under the Enlarged (320-(icre) Homestead Act, and 

 23,097 acres previously designated under this act were reported to the Secre- 

 tary of the Interior as not enterable and canceled as such, detailed examina- 

 tion having shown the lands to be susceptible of irrigation. 



