214 



ANNUAL REPORTS OF nEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



COOPERATION WITH STATES IN FOREST PROTECTION. 



The protection from fire of lands in State and private ownership 

 on the forested watersheds of navigable streams, in cooperation with 

 the vStates, was extended and made much more effective through the 

 increase in the Federal appropriation from SI 25,000 to S400,000. 

 The increase was used (1) to establish this coo])erative work in two 

 additional States, Ohio and Tennessee; (2) to increase the allotments 

 to various States on the basis of the need of protection for their 

 forests; and (3) to effect a better Federal organization, enabling more 

 frequent and direct contact with State organizations and a closer in- 

 spection of the work. 



The hicreased allotments made possible a much more effective or- 

 ganization of the work in many States, and in some instances led 

 directl}^ to the ]-)rotection, even though often inadequate, of large 

 areas previously without any effective fire-control organization. For 

 example, it led to the extension of the protective activities to a for- 

 ested area of 4,800,000 acres in the southern and southwestern parts 

 of New York, and to 5,000,000 acres hi Maine, which had previously 

 received but slight protection. In Louisiana the additional Federal 

 allotment and the increased State appropriation resulted in an en- 

 largement of the protected area from 8,000,000 to 12,000,000 acres, 

 and in Virghiia protection was organized in four additional counties. 



The steady growth of this cooperative effort and the meager pro- 

 portion of the total expenditure borne by the Federal Government is 

 indicated by the following table. It is noteworthy that the increase 

 in Federal funds for 1922 was only about one-third of the increase in 

 State expenditures, and that the area to which protection was extended 

 increased 26,000,000 acres during the year. 



Cooperative expenditures for protecting forested vjatersheds of navigable streams from fire. 



Fiscal year. 



ign and 1912. 



1913 



1914 



1915 



1916 



1917 



1918 



1919 



1920 



1921 



1922 



Federal 

 appro- 

 priation. 



I $200, 000 



75,000 

 100,000 

 100, 000 

 100,000 

 100, 000 

 100,000 

 100,000 

 125, 000 

 400,000 



Number Area 



of States protected 



cooperat- | (thousand 



ing. ; acres). 



11 

 12 

 17 

 18 

 20 

 21 

 21 

 22 

 23 

 24 

 26 



61,000 



68,000 



83,000 



95, 000 



98, 000 



103,000 



104,000 



110,000 



129, 000 



140, 000 



166,000 



Federal 

 expendi- 

 ture. 



$53,287.53 

 53, 247. 82 



79. 708. 27 

 69, 581. 75 



90. 481. 28 

 90, 580. 14 

 98, 529. 75 

 99, 921. 38 

 95, 107. 86 



119,529.83 

 398, 899. 19 



State 

 expendi- 

 ture. 



2 $350, 



2 380, 



2 415, 



505, 



408, 



435, 



565, 



625, 



S60, 



1,066, 



3 1, 896, 



000. 00 

 000.00 

 000.00 

 924. 70 

 087. 08 

 328. 11 

 625. 24 

 445.54 

 919.49 

 027. 47 

 920. 43 



Total 

 expendi- 

 ture. 



$403,287.53 

 433,247.82 

 494, 708. 27 

 575, 506. 45 

 498, 568. 36 

 525,908.25 

 664, 154. 99 

 725, 366. 92 

 956, 027. 35 

 1,185,557.30 

 2,295,819.62 



' Available during period Mar. 1, 1911, to .Tune 30, 1915. 



■ Approximate expenditure. 



'Includes expenditures by towns and counties. 



In addition to these public expenditures, the amounts now ex- 

 pended by private owners for the protection of their forests total 

 approximately $1,000,000 a year. Private outlays for this purpose 

 have been greatly stimulated by the cooperation offered by the Fed- 

 eral Government, and have at least trebled since this work was 

 initiated in 1911. 



The increased appropriation made it possible to aid in meeting 

 emergency conditions in several States which had unusually severe 



