NEWS AND NOTES. 



Co-operation between the government and the State against 

 forest fires is made possible by the Weeks law, and has already 

 been taken advantage of by the States of Maine, New Hampshire, 

 Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, 

 Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Michigan, Wisconsin, Min- 

 nesota, South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. 



Under the terms of the co-operative agreements, the Secretary 

 of Agriculture may terminate the co-operation at any time that he 

 finds it not to be conducted in a satisfactory manner. In this way 

 the responsibility for organizing and maintaining the work is 

 placed upon the State, which must, therefore, keep its system up 

 to a good standard of efficiency in order to have the co-operation 

 with the government continued. Forestry officials of the depart- 

 ment of agriculture act as inspectors to keep the department in- 

 formed as to how the States are handling the work. Under this 

 plan a great advance has been made in the development of effi- 

 cient state systems of fire protection. 



An agreement entered into between the U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture and the State of Michigan provides for an expenditure 

 by the government of not to exceed $5,000 a year toward meet- 

 ing the expenses of forest fire protection in Michigan. 



In Montana co-operative agreements involve the Forest Service, 

 the State, and the Northern Pacific railroad. These have just been 

 renewed to extend through the fiscal year to June 30, 1915. 



The agreement with the State provides that federal and State 

 patrolmen shall form one single force for handling forest fires, 

 which force acts under the direction of the forest supervisor in 

 charge of the nearest national forest. This arrangement, as is 

 intended, "secures the greatest efficiency and avoids duplication 

 of patrol." The agreement applies to all government and State 

 lands lying within the exterior boundaries of the National Forests 

 in Montana. The agreement between the railroad and the Forest 

 Service provides for similar patrol arrangements. 



The government allots the State the sum of $3,500 a year, to be 

 expended for salaries of federal patrolmen, and the State agrees 



