FOREST SERVICE. 375 



mendations are passed upon by the chief engineer. If the report is 

 favorable to the appHcant, a power permit is prepared, and, wlien 

 approved by the Forester, is submitted to tlie Secretary of Agri- 

 culture. 



FOREST MANAGEMENT. 



STAND AND DISTRIBUTION OF NATIONAL FOREST TIMBER. 



Last year's report gave the total stand of timber on National 

 Forests exclusive of Alaska as 400,000,000,000 feet. Alore accu- 

 rate knowledge has led to a revised estimate, which raises the 

 total to approximately 530,000,000,000 feet. For the two National 

 Forests in Alaska not even a rough estimate can be made, though the 

 stand is believed to be very large. The estimate of total stand given 

 above should be considered as only an approximation, which will be 

 subject to further change as more accurate surveys of the timber 

 resources on each Forest are made. 



About 62 per cent of the total estimated stand on the National 

 Forests exclusive of Alaska is in the three Pacific Coast States, 2 1 per 

 cent in Idaho and Montana, and 12 per cent in Arizona, Colorado, 

 and New ^Mexico. This leaves only 5 per cent elsewhere. In the 

 order of their importance, the five States contaming the bulk of 

 National Forest timber are Oregon, California, "Washington, Idaho, 

 and Montana. 



LOSSES BY FOREST FIRES. 



The loss of National Forest timber from forest fires can be reported 

 only for the calendar year 1909, since the record of fires is kept 

 by seasons, not fiscal years. The record for 1909 showed improve- 

 ment over that of 1908. The area burned over was 362,014 acres, 

 of which 209,671 acres were timbered, as against 414,638 acres, of 

 which 252,382 acres were timbered, the previous year. The loss in 

 timber destroved was 169,410,000 board feet, with an estimated 

 value of S297,275, as against 232,191,000 board feet, worth $451,188, 

 in 1908. Of 3,138 separate fires reported, 2,464 were extinguished 

 witliout extra help or expense by the Forest officers discovering 

 them. This was an increase, as compared with the previous year, 

 of 410 in the total number of fires reported and of 375 in the number 

 extinguished without material damage. The increase in the latter 

 class is wholly attributable to fires on the Coeur d'Alene Forest, on 

 which 057 nunor fires were reported for 1909, as against only 84 for 

 1908. Locomotive sparks were given as the origin of 611 of the fires 

 on this Forest in 1909, while for 1908 only 9 fires from this cause were 

 reported. 



In the organization and administration of the National Forests the 

 most important consideration is their protection from fire. In a 

 Forest fully organized, with adequate means of transportation and 

 communication and a sufhcient force of rangers and guards, the risk 

 from lire is very small. In foreign countries in which forests are so 

 organized the risk is so small that the forests are insurable at a mod- 

 erate rate. 



Full protection of the National Forests from fire will be brought 

 about just as rapidly as possible. It requires (1) the removal of the 



