EEPORT OF THE FORESTER. 173 



At the close of the fiscal year large sales aggregating over 400,- 

 000,000 board feet were being negotiated or advertised, with every 

 I^rospect of early consummation. 



TIMBER TRESPASS. 



The receipts from timber trespass were $18,870.20. The greater 

 portion of this amount was received in settlement for damages in 

 trespass cases which occurred some years ago, chiefly in connection 

 with fraudulent land claims in California. The timber trespass oc- 

 curring on National Forests in recent years is insignificant in amount 

 and value. 



TIMBER SETTLEMENT. 



The receipts from timber cut in connection with the occupancy or 

 use of National Forest lands were $17,101.51, as compared with 

 $2,298.69 in 1916. Receipts from this source are seldom large, but 

 vary widely from year to year as construction work on various proj- 

 ects is stimulated or retarded by general economic conditions. 



PROTECTION. 



In the calendar year 1916 favorable fire conditions prevailed 

 throughout the greater part of the National Forest regions. The 

 number of fires fought was 5,655, as against 6,321 in 1915. The 

 average damage per fire, $32.94, was less than 44 per cent of the 

 average for the preceding five years, and tlie average cost of fire 

 fighting per fire was $26.55, less than 53 per cent of the average cost 

 for the same five-year period. Although the timbered area burned 

 over was 303,229 acres, or more than double that burned over in 1915, 

 the loss from damage to timber, reproduction, and forage was only 

 $198,599 as against $353,389 in 1915. The disparity between the 

 area burned over and the value of the forest resources destroyed was 

 due largely to the fact that of the total timbered area on which the 

 fires occurred 157,964 acres, or 52 per cent of the total area, were in 

 the two National Forests in Arkansas, while the property damage on 

 these two Forests was only $18,675, or 9 per cent of the whole. In 

 California and New Mexico the burned-over areas reached totals of 

 15,939 acres and 15,067 acres, respectively. The generally favorable 

 character of the season is indicated bj^ the small areas burned over 

 in the other National Forest States, no single State reaching a total 

 of 10,000 acres. Only 250 of the total number of fires caused losses 

 in excess of $100. 



Of the 5,655 fires extinguished, 849 had their origin on areas out- 

 side of the exterior boundaries of the National Forests, and of this 

 number 722, or 85 per cent, were extinguished before reaching the 

 Forest boundaries. 



The following table classifies the total number of fires in 1916 

 according to areas burned over, losses, and causes : 



