38 Forestry Quarterly 



increase in stumpage values. If the value of stumpage only 

 doubled once during the first rotation and stumpage bringing $1 

 per M feet b. m. now were only worth $3 in 100 years, the pro- 

 tection cost would still be justified. But an increase of a hun- 

 dred per cent in average stumpage values may confidently be 

 looked for during the next rotation, and the cost of protection 

 against fire becomes then nominal. In any case, it is certain that 

 the value of stumpage will not settle till the full cost of produc- 

 tion has been reached. Production without protection is not 

 possible and will not become possible. The costs of protection, 

 therefore, are an integral part of the production costs and the 

 value of stumpage must always be high enough to absorb them. 

 That this is already being recognized in a vague way is shown in 

 the higher sale value of tracts included within the protected area 

 of the better Associations, as compared with similar tracts which 

 are unprotected. It is, also, even more clearly shown by the 

 greater discounts required by the better class of bonding com- 

 panies in placing the bonds of timber corporations whose hold- 

 ings are known to be subjecst to high fire dangers; this indicating 

 that the security represented by such tracts is less than those 

 having comparatively little fire danger, and that the investment 

 values of such tracts are thereby lowered by the fire danger. 



In connection with fire protection and its costs, it must be 

 remembered that the forest is subject to many other prevent- 

 able damages, the most important being trespass, fungi and insects. 

 While the fire danger is the greatest and protection from fire is 

 the most urgent item, a forest reasonably safe from fire is not 

 necessarily at all safe. A charge against trespass protection is 

 properly to be made from the funds expended for general admin- 

 istration. The necessary measures and the costs of protection 

 against insects and fungi we know little about, as yet. That 

 the costs of such operations may frequently exceed those for 

 fire protection is not unlikely. 



It is high time that American foresters stopped thinking of 

 forest protection in terms of fire only, and high time that it was 

 recognized that the present degree of fire protection is, even at 

 best, wholly inadequate, and that the forest business can fully 

 justify the costs of adequate protection, which will probably 

 approximate 20 cents per acre per year, of which perhaps 10 

 cents will be chargeable to fire protection. 



