164 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



EXTENSION OF TIMBER ESTIMATES. 



During the year 705,872 acres of National Forest timberlands were 

 estimated and mapped on an intensive basis, and 1,093,006 on an 

 extensive basis. In all, 20,815,798 acres of Forest lands have been 

 estimated and mapped by intensive methods and 47,291,660 exten- 

 sively. The collection of data for timber estimates and maps is an 

 essential feature of timber sale administration preliminary to an 

 appraisal and sale of the timber. Examinations are consequently 

 conducted for the greater part on those areas which contain timber 

 already applied for by prospective purchasers or which has promise 

 of being in demand in the near future. 



Terms of sale, including minimum stumpage prices for advertise- 

 ment, were established for the timber on 17 large tracts, each con- 

 taining from 43,000,000 board feet to 137,000,000 board feet. Sales 

 of the timber from four of the tracts were consummated during the 

 year and applications were of record for the timber on six of the 

 remaining number. 



TIMBER TRESPASS. 



The receipts from timber trespass were $37,712.51, considerably 

 in excess of the receipts for the past two fiscal years. This is due to 

 the recent settlement for damages in several important trespass cases 

 which occurred a number of years ago in Wyoming and California. 



TIMBER SETTLEMENT. 



The receipts for timber cut in connection with the occupancy or 

 use of National Forest lands were $2,298.69, as compared with 

 $3,180.89 in 1915. 



PROTECTION. 



The number of fires suppressed during the calendar year 1915 was 

 6,324, as against 7,018 in 1914 and an average annual number of 

 4,759 during the past five years. These figures include the fires 

 occurring on the Purchase Areas in the East, which were omitted from 

 the tabulation given in the Report of the Forester for 1915. While 

 more than the average number of fires occurred, the timbered area 

 burned over was but 155,416 acres, or 30 per cent less than the 

 average per year for the period 1911 to 1915, inclusive. With fires 

 almost as numerous as in 1914, the total loss of $353,389 was but 

 70 per cent as great, and the average loss per fire was $60.41, as 

 against an average loss of $74.44 for the five-year period. 



Of the total number of fires, 3,536, or 56 per cent, occurred in the 

 three States of California, Idaho, and Oregon, which have within 

 their borders about 32 per cent of the total National Forest area 

 and 49 per cent of the aggregate timber stand. Of the fires in these 

 States, 2,919, or 83 per cent, were extinguished before a loss of $100 

 per fire had been incurred, including 1,225 fires brought under con- 

 trol before one-fourth of an acre had been burned over. 



The total cost of fire fighting, in addition to the salaries of the 

 regular Forest force, was $212,436, as against $688,997 in 1914 and 

 an average of $249,227 for the past five years, the average cost per 

 fire in 1915 being $38.37, or one-third less than the five-year average. 



