42 



JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



necessary to give this degree of pro- 

 tection, will not exceed four miles 

 per section and may he less. 



"Fire lines should usually follow 

 all railroad spurs, except when these 

 are located at intervals smaller than 

 required by the standard, and should 

 always be constructed along main 

 traveled wagon roads. 



"The location of fire lines should 

 avoid low crowned coniTers and con- 

 iferous reproduction. If this is im- 

 possible, it is better to destroy these 

 crozvns by burning on the fire line." 



Usually railroad spurs are in the beds 

 of canyons (except on Coconino and 

 Tusayan) where undergrowth, brush, 

 and litter are thickest, and is not the 

 ideal place to construct a fire line, 

 except from the fact that the rail- 

 road grade is one fire line itself. 

 From every standpoint of prepara- 

 tion and results at times of fire, I 

 should say that fire lines may be 

 preferably located on ridges and out 

 of canyons or ravines instead of in 

 them. 



It is believed the destruction of seed by wholesale brush burning 

 should be given more emphasis, as well as the need for the annual 

 clearing of debris from parts of fire lines. The more consideration 

 seems to be: What sort of a cleared line can be better fired from? 

 To my mnid even a narrow cleared path is better than the wide lines 

 described by Chapman where the litter remains. Best of all is the 

 wide general line with a narrow cleared area to back fire from. There 

 appears to be too much theory and not enough "practice" in the district 

 instructions. The main reason is that if the fire line principle is ac- 

 cepted in place of wholesale brush disposal then fire line technique 

 should apply. The operator, even if he plows furrows, will still save 

 money in gross costs. These instructions are a step in the right direc- 

 tion but the technique seems at fault. 



