210 ANNUAL, REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The total numb.er of man-caused fires rose from 2,996 to 4,400, and 

 was only 4 per cent less than in 1919, as against 35 per cent less in 

 1920. The marked increase in fires caused by campers, brush burn- 

 ing, and incendiarism is disturbing. The Forest Service has made 

 every effort possible with its available funds to reduce the number of 

 these unnecessary man-caused fires through educational and law- 

 enforcement work. There is urgent need for additional preventive 

 work, without which the task of protection is in danger of becoming 

 steadily more difficult and costly. 



The further reduction of damage and cost of fire lighting from the 

 high mark of 1919 is due partly to the favorable season and partly 

 to the continuous effort to increase the efficiency and numerical 

 strength of the fire-control organization. Under the appropriations^ 

 for the last fiscal year it was found possible to add 86 guards to the 

 protection organization. This added strength played a part in the 

 reduction of damage and fire fighting costs. The failure to show a 

 smaller area burned than in 1920 is largely due to periods of severe 

 hazard on certain of the eastern forests, where 139,603 acres were 

 burned as against 63,471 in 1920. 



The 1922 fire season is not yet over, so that no statistics covering 

 it can be given; and most of it does not fall within the fiscal year 

 covered by this report. It nevertheless requires some mention. In 

 Oregon and Washington it has been the most severe in some years. 

 The usual May and June rains failed, and fires set to clean up slash 

 on private lands burned on into the danger period, with resulting 

 great losses to property and growing timber. The National Forests 

 have not suffered as severely as outside timber lands. The second 

 year of special protection on the area of the great timber "blow 

 down" in and near the Olympic National Forest in Washington has 

 been as successful as was the first, and has cost the public Treasury 

 less because the main improvements necessary are now installed. 

 In view of the extraordinary peril of the situation and the difficulty 

 of the task, this is a distinct achievement. 



Outside of the Pacific Northwest the season has so far been some- 

 what more favorable than 1921, with the exception of a late period of 

 hot "fire weather" and unusual hazard in California. There have 

 been comparatively few lightning fires, and this has meant absence 

 of the "bunching" of fires which has so often proved to be more than 

 the protective force could handle. 



Appropriations for the current year made it possible to add 100 

 men to the fire guard force for the 1922 season. This added force, 

 coupled with the availability of road and trail crews for fire fighting 

 in inaccessible regions, contributed measurably to the effectiveness 

 of the protection given for this year. Nevertheless, the guard force is 

 still inadequate, and provision for 100 additional guards has been 

 included in the estimates for the fiscal year 1924, 



COOPERATION INCREASING. 



Twenty years ago, in all but a few spots in the United States, 

 forest fires were regarded with indifference if they did not threaten 

 buildings or other valuable improvements; indeed, it was the custom 

 in many regions deliberately to set fire to the woods for any of a 

 number of reasons. The destructive effects of this attitude may be 



