THE PRESENT SITUATION OF FORESTRY 



735 



ing Opposition. Those who are aiming 

 to destroy the National Forest system 

 are not the settlers and others who use 

 the Forest, but rather men who seek for 

 their own advantage special privileges 

 to which they are not entitled, and who 

 wish to acquire, for little or nothing, 

 valuable resources for speculation and 

 personal gain. 



During the past year the Weeks Law, 

 authorizing the purchase of lands on 

 navigable streams, has been put into ef- 

 fect, and the Government has already 

 entered into contracts for the purchase 

 of 230,000 acres in the Southern Ap- 

 palachian Mountains, and about 72,000 

 acres in the White Mountains. These 

 lands are being secured on the most de- 

 sirable areas, and it has been possible to 

 obtain them for reasonable prices. A 

 special feature of the Weeks Law is the 

 co-operation between the Government 

 and the States in fire protection on wa- 

 tersheds of navigable streams. The law 

 provides $200,000, until expended, for 

 such co-operation ; but this money can 

 be used only in States which have al- 

 ready inaugurated a system of fire pro- 

 tection under public direction. During 

 the year ending 1911 there were 11 

 States which qualified under this law, 

 receiving in the aggregate about $40,- 

 000. During the current year sums 

 varying from $1,500 to $10,000 have 

 been allotted to the States of Alaine, 

 New Hampshire, V^ermont, Connecti- 

 cut, New York, New Jersey, Mar}'land, 

 Wisconsin, ^Minnesota, Oregon, and 

 Washington. There is still sufficient 

 money left from the original appropria- 

 tion for substantial co-operation during 

 another year. It has been the aim of 

 the Forest Service to spread the money 

 over three years in order that there may 

 be a full demonstration of what can be 

 accomplished and at what cost. It will 

 then be possible to present to Congress 

 a satisfactory basis upon which to con- 

 sider whether Federal aid to the States 

 should be continued. 



The most urgent need of the National 

 Forest work is more ample provision of 

 the funds necessary for adequate pro- 

 tection of the Forests against fire. It is 

 especially urgent that the work of con- 

 structing roads, trails, telephone lines. 



and other improvements needed for fire 

 protection be extended much more rap- 

 idly than at present. 



PROGRESS IN STATE FORESTRY 



A very great obligation rests upon the 

 State governments in working out the 

 problem of forestry. Organized fire 

 protection under State direction, the es- 

 tablishment of a reasonable system of 

 taxation of growing timber, honest and 

 conservative management of State for- 

 est laws, education of woodland own- 

 ers to better methods of forestry, and 

 such practical regulation of handling 

 private forests as may be required for 

 the protection of the public, are prob- 

 lems which require the immediate 

 action of all States. 



WHiile no State is as yet accomplish- 

 ing all that it should, a number of them 

 are making very rapid progress, and 

 are giving as liberal money support as 

 perhaps could be expected under the 

 present conditions. The feature of 

 State forestry which stands out most 

 strongly is that a number of States have 

 gone beyond merely passing forest laws, 

 and have begun to provide the funds 

 necessary to achieve practical results. 

 At last it is beginning to be recognized 

 that the prevention of fire is the funda- 

 mental necessity, and that this can be 

 accomplished only through an organized 

 public service. In order to make laws 

 effective, there must be adequate ma- 

 chinery to carry them out. The funda- 

 mental principle of fire protection is 

 preparation. A forest region must be 

 watched for fires, both to prevent their 

 being started and to reach quickly and 

 put out such as from one cause or an- 

 other may get under way. The new 

 State legislation recognizes this need, 

 and already there has been inaugurated 

 a measure of watchfulness in the season 

 of greatest danger, through patrol or 

 lookouts under State direction. Dur- 

 ing 1911, which was a banner year in 

 the enactment of State legislation, laws 

 related chiefly to fire protection were 

 passed by Connecticut, Massachusetts, 

 Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jer- 

 sey, Oregon, Washington, and W^iscon- 

 sin ; while Colorado created the ofiice of 



