FOREST COMMISSIONER S REPORT. 7 



try. The system has since spread not only over Maine, but it 

 has been adopted by practically every state having a Forest Fire 

 Protective System. 



Supplementing the lookouts are patrolmen, who patrol terri- 

 tory where fires arc the most likely to occur. 



Our laws in force in the Maine Forestry District require 

 efficient spark arresters on locomotives ; prohibit the dumping 

 of coals along the railroads in the forest area, require the 

 screening or fastening down of windows of smoking cars and 

 compartments, and the railroad patrol act allows the Forest 

 Commissioner to maintain an efficient patrol on all railroads in 

 the district, the expense of which is paid by the railroad com- 

 panies. This system is not complete, but it is being improved 

 each year as the finances of the District allow, and it will soon 

 undoubtedly furnish reasonably adequate protection to the great 

 wild land area of the State. 



Protection of the forests in the towns and plantations is now 

 in the hands of the Selectmen. These officials are charged with 

 the important duty of extinguishing forest fires, but they are 

 supported by no fund to prevent them. It is the opinion of the 

 Forest Commissioner that the protective system now in opera- 

 tion in the Maine Forestry District should be extended to the 

 forests outside the District. 



The towns and plantations need lookout stations and patrols 

 and equipment for fighting forest fires, and the suppression of 

 forest fires is so important to all the people of Maine that the 

 State should assist materially in the work. The legislature 

 should appropriate twenty-five thousand dollars annually for 

 State wide aid. A part of this appropriation should be expended 

 in the Maine Forestry District, as the owners of forest lands 

 situated in the District now maintain the protective system by 

 direct assessment, and the remainder should be expended for 

 the protection of forests outside the District. The towns and 

 plantations would be willing to expend money for proteation 

 purposes undoubtedly providing they could receive State aid. 



Further legislation should be enacted requiring the disposi- 

 tion of slash within a certain distance of railroads, carriage 

 and travelled wood roads. 



I can not say too much in favor of the results obtained by the 

 protective system in the Maine Forestry District. The men 



