SUSTAINED ANNUAI, YIELD 825 



The average fire loss in Minnesota for the past 12 years, is about 

 200,000 acres per year. These figures are from State reports and are 

 admittedly low. The forest area protected is approximately 15,000,000 

 acres (it can be stretched to 25,000,000 acres by including woodlands 

 and woodlots). 



The State Forester of Wisconsin reports that he has no idea how 

 much land is burned over each year in his State. 



The fact is that the Lake States, however we may figure fire losses, 

 have no coniferous timber coming in on the cut-over lands in quantity. 

 Perhaps the. most serious attempt at adequate fire protection in the 

 Lake States has been made by State Forester Schaaf, on the Michigan 

 State Forests. The fire losses on several of the forests have been kept 

 down to a very small per cent (less than one-half of 1 per cent of area 

 per year) in the past 5 years, but on these forests compartment line 

 roads ("fire lines") are built 440 yards apart in cardinal directions 

 (that is, around every "forty") and maintained free of grass and weeds 

 by harrowing and dragging. On other forests not so intensively 

 equipped the average fire loss for the past 4 years has been about 3 

 per cent per year. 



It is evident from the above that up to the present time, in the great 

 coniferous regions of the country, attempts at State-wide fire protection 

 have proven futile of real accomplishment. They have hardly been 

 worth while. The number of fires has increased faster in the past 

 few years than has the organization of the States to subdue them. 



It is very unlikely that adequate fire protection will be obtained in 

 these regions on the present cut-over lands until intensive methods of 

 forestry are inaugurated such as State Forester Schaaf has done on 

 several of the State forests of Michigan. 



Approximately one man is needed for each 2,500 acres. That is, 

 for each 25,000 acres a crew of eight men is needed constantly on hand 

 for fire suppression, besides two men for lookout or patrol work. The 

 eight men can be engaged in road building, planting, or any other work 

 when not actually engaged in fire fighting ; but they must be at hand to 

 insure man-power in case of fire. This number is based upon the ex- 

 perience on the Michigan State forests, and can be relied upon as being 

 conservative. 



Such men will be employed for approximately 5 months, at an 

 average cost of about $90 per month, or $450 a year. That is, labor 

 alone for fire protection will cost in the Lake States fully 18 cents per 



