REPORT OF THE FORESTER, 165 



The fire situation this year was unusual. Throughout the West 

 the season of danger opened late, but also continued late. In the 

 Southwest, where the main danger is in the spring, the snowfall in 

 the winter of 1915 was very heavy, and favorable early conditions 

 resulted; but after the forests dried out the situation continued bad 

 until the third week in July ; when the summer rains began. Else- 

 where in the West the 1915 snowfall was generally deficient. 

 Throughout the Northwest and on the Pacific coast the early pros- 

 pects were very unfavorable, but late spring and early summer rains 

 prevented conditions from becoming especially serious until well 

 along in the season. In the central Rocky Mountain region, in spite 

 of a late start, the situation by the middle of July had reached a 

 point which made possible on one of the Wyoming Forests the most 

 dangerous fire recorded in that district. In Utah and southern Idaho 

 the fire season was the longest ever experienced; two fires occurred 

 in November for the first time. In the Montana and northern Idaho 

 Forests the season was comparatively short but very severe. In 

 Washington and Oregon the peak of the fire season, usually reached 

 by the middle of August, did not come until well after the 1st of 

 September. In California it was necessary to keep the Forests 

 manned with protection forces for over five months, and the season 

 was not closed until November 10. In the eastern Forests and Pur- 

 chase Areas, where most of the fires occur in the winter and early 

 spring, the first part of the calendar year 1916 was characterized by a 

 period of unusual danger due to drought, and many fires had to be 

 fought. 



At the close of the fiscal year the fire situation was generally, as 

 compared with the previous season, highly favorable throughout the 

 West. While complete details regarding the fires of the summer of 

 1916 are not yet available and do not belong in this report, it may 

 be said that, except in the Southwest, the season was one of light 

 losses and relatively little danger, in marked and welcome contrast 

 with the conditions confronted by the Forest Service for three suc- 

 cessive previous years. 



In fighting the 1915 fires it became necessary again to draw upon 

 the available funds to an extent which involved seeking from Con- 

 gress a deficiency appropriation. An item of $57,300 carried by the 

 urgent deficiency act relieved the emergency. In the previous year 

 a deficiency appropriation of $349,243 made good the heavy extra 

 expenditures for fire protection in the bad summer of 1914. No 

 deficiency appropriation at all would have had to be made last year 

 had not the emergency funds made available in case of need by the 

 agricultural appropriation act been reduced by dropping out one of 

 the items carried in earlier acts. Experience has shown that the 

 emergency fund of $150,000, which was all that was available in 1916, 

 is sufficient only under exceptional circumstances. In four out of the 

 last six years the amount spent has exceeded this amount, while in 

 the other two years it was but little less. The dropped item curtailed 

 by $100,000 the emergency funds as compared with the year before. 



