REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 67 



FOREST FlUE LOSSES OF THE YEAR. 



Not quite 2 acres per thousand were burned over during the calen- 

 dar year 1911. On only a very small part of the area burned over 

 was any considerable percentage of the merchantable timber de- 

 stroyed. The estimated damage was about $355,000, nearly equally 

 divided between damage to timber and damage to reproduction and 

 with a small loss of forage value. 



During the last half of the fiscal year 1912 very few fires occurred. 

 This was partly because of unusual weather conditions, partly be- 

 cause of the great gain in efficiency of protection and the develop- 

 ment of the system of roads, trails, telephones, lookouts, and other 

 permanent improvements. Much still remains to be done and large 

 expenditures must be made before the forests will be safe against 

 disastrous fires; and the present protective force is far too small. 

 The saving of public property, to say nothing of the protection 

 given to private property and to life which follows from efficient 

 fire protection, makes failure to provide for such protection not 

 merely most short-sighted economy but an almost criminal neglect. 

 Better manned and better equipped forests are a matter of primary 

 importance. The advance in the development of an enlightened 

 and vigorous public sentiment on the subject of forest fires and in 

 organized protection of private holdings in National Forest regions 

 has been a prime factor in lowering the fire risk and is a matter of 

 great importance. That this advance has taken place is due first 

 of all to the example furnished by the Forest Service and to the 

 education of public sentiment which it has brought about. An ad- 

 verse influence has been temporarily created in localized regions, 

 particularly in northern California, by the agitation of the theory 

 of "light burning." This has brought about an increase in incen- 

 diarism in certain localities, due not to malice but to the mistaken 

 idea that forest protection is promoted by letting fires run over the 

 ground frequently. This would mean in the long run forest de- 

 struction, for it prevents the renewal of the forest gi'owtli. 



REFORESTATION. 



Both through seeding and through the planting of young stock 

 grown in the National Forest nurseries the work of reforestation was 

 pushed. Under the plans which I have approved an average of 

 30,000 acres will be covered each year, the amount varying, however, 

 to fit such special conditions as may present themselves. In years of 

 unusually heavy seed crops, for example, the seed gathering will be 

 put ahead of the sowing and planting work. About 20,000 acres 

 was covered Inst year, of which about 14,000 acres was sown and 

 6,000 acres planted at a total cost of about $130,000. Work on a 



