FEDERAL COOPERATION, 



After the passage by the National congress of the act known 

 as the Weeks bill, steps were taken by the Maine Forestry de- 

 partment early in 1911 towards getting a share of the funds 

 available under that act. Considerable correspondence passed 

 between the State and federal government relative to terms, 

 allotment, etc. and a trip to Washington for a personal confer- 

 ence with the federal authorities was made in June. As a 

 result of this conference an allotment of $10,000 was made for 

 Maine in 191 1, the maximum amount allowed any state and 

 only one other state, Minnesota, received a like amount. One 

 of the conditions under which any state could receive aid was 

 that it should have an organized fire system and a special ap- 

 propriation. The Maine Forestry District met these require- 

 ments in all respects. 



Under the terms of the bill only such watersheds could re- 

 ceive the benefit of the cooperation as were included in territory 

 drained by navigable streams within the state. In drawing up 

 the agreement for 191 1, the watersheds of the Kennebec, Pen- 

 obscot, Union and Narraguagus rivers were decided upon as 

 applicable. 



Detail of the cooperation is shown from the following ex- 

 tracts taken from the report made to the federal government 

 at the close of the season 191 1: 



Patrols and Lookouts. 



"Owing to the early drying of the underbrush and lack of 

 moisture in the forests the patrolmen were placed upon their 

 trails along the river systems several weeks sooner than con- 

 templated. During the month of A'lay there was an average of 



