813 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



tion and calling upon the Legislature to enact 

 laws which will better control the individ- 

 ual who starts forest fires ; which will 

 enforce stricter regulations controlling rail- 

 roads and other companies or individuals 

 using spark-producing engines ; which will 

 empower some already existing state organ- 

 ization, or create some new state system, to 

 enforce such laws; and which will provide 

 an adequate appropriation to carry them into 

 effect. Similar resolutions have been already 

 passed by several of the chambers of com- 

 merce and other commercial bodies of the 

 State. 



Oregon 



Oregon has just passed through the most 

 successful fire season of which there is 

 record. Aside from three crown fires which 

 occurred in May before the fire season had 

 really opened, and before the field force 

 employed by the State and private timber 

 owners was in the field, practically no timber 

 was destroyed. These early fires were caused 

 by carelessness in burning slashings located 

 adjacent to standing timber, and could easily 

 have been avoided if proper precautions had 

 been taken by the people during the burning. 

 The damage to timber in 1912 was less than 

 the loss of 87,622 feet B.M. in 1911, and 

 1,978,841 feet B.M. in 1910. This result is 

 due chiefly to the effectiveness of the work 

 of the Forest Service, the Wardens employed 

 by the State and the Patrolmen in the em- 

 ploy of the private timber owners. Con- 

 siderable credit must also be given to a 

 marked change in the attitude of campers, 

 hunters and others relative to care with fire 

 when in woods. One of the decidedly en- 

 couraging features in our work during the 

 past season was the organization of addi- 

 tional county fire patrol associations. Five 

 associations were formed during the year, 

 bringing the total number of such organiza- 

 tions up to ten. The area covered by them 

 totalled approximately 6,300,000 acres. In 

 seven of the counties covered by fire patrol 

 associations, the County Supervising Warden 

 employed by the State Forester also acted 

 as manager and directed the work of the 

 association. This arrangement gave the 

 State Forester immediate supervision of the 

 fire protection work over a relatively large 

 portion of the timber section of the State. 



The need of a map of Oregon showing 

 the cover of lands in the State which should 

 be protected from fire, has long been felt 

 by the State Forester. The work of obtain- 

 ing data for such a map was started during 

 the fall by placing eleven men in the field 

 in the Northwestern section of the State. 

 These men were instructed to prepare a map 

 of the district assigned to them, showing 

 the following information : 



1. Location of land bearing merchantable 



timber, whether old or second growth. 



2. Location of land covered with brush. 



3. Location of cut-over land bearing un- 



merchantable second growth. 



4. Location of all other cut-over land. 



5. Location of old bums bearing unmer- 



chantable second growth. 



6. Location of burned areas not included 



under class 5. 



7. Location of land used primarily for 



agricultural and grazing purposes. 

 It is expected that this data covering ap- 

 proximately the Northwest quarter of the 

 State will be available about January 1, and 

 just as soon as possible thereafter a lithograph 

 forest cover map, on a scale of V/i" to the 

 township, will be published. The remainder 

 of the State will be worked over during the 

 coming year and a complete cover map will 

 be issued just as soon as possible. The in- 

 formation that will be shown on a map of 

 this kind will be of immense value to the 

 State Forester in connection with the fire 

 protection work and especially in locating 

 fire patrol districts. 



Maryland 



An effort is being made in Maryland to 

 promote the planting and care of road-side 

 trees. The State has expended several mil- 

 lions of dollars in the last few years for 

 improved roads and the work is being con- 

 tinued, with the prospect that the whole 

 State will, in a few years, be traversed by 

 a system of improved highways. The great- 

 est interest in tree planting has been shown 

 by small towns, and their good influence is 

 extending out into the rural sections. Illus- 

 trated talks are being given, showing the 

 greater attractiveness of highways outlined 

 by rows of trees, as contrasted with roads 

 along which there are no trees. The State 

 also proposes to establish a forest nursery, 

 a portion of which can be devoted to the 

 growing of trees suitable for planting along 

 road sides. An effort is being made to 

 secure a suitable law which will be admin- 

 istered by some central head, and not left 

 entirely to local authorities, in order that 

 there may be uniformity in the methods to 

 be pursued, proper trees selected for planting 

 and their arrangement made harmonious. 



The plan is meeting with general approval 

 wherever presented and the prospect is ex- 

 ceedingly good for securing a model road 

 side tree law from the next Legislature, in 

 January, 1914. 



Michigan 



Negotiations between the Forest Service 

 and the Public Domain Commission of the 

 State of Michigan are under way for the 

 exchange of certain National and State for- 

 est lands. Such exchange is made possible 

 by a law recently enacted by Congress, the 

 object of which is to enable the Government 

 to more completely solidify its holdings 

 within the boundaries of the National Forests 

 in Michigan. A State law, of similar pur- 

 port, giving the State of Michigan authority 

 to exchange lands with the Federal Govern- 



