WASHINGTON FOREST FIRE ASSOCIATION :: :: Seven 



for patrol and protection work are made to contribute their just pro- 

 portion. About one million acres of timber land has thus been added 

 to the contributing area of which some 600,000 acres are paying its 

 share through assessments by the State, 291,000 new acres were 

 listed in the Association and for about 150,000 acres individual patrol 

 is provided by the owners thereof. 



All of the regular field force were this year protected under the 

 Workmen's Compensation Act of the State. Only one accident, of 

 minor nature, was reported. 



As the year 1917 completes the tenth season of the activities of 

 the Washington Forest Fire Association it may be appropriate to 

 review the work during the decade. Organized efforts for forest pro- 

 tection against fire in the State of Washington were inaugurated in 

 1905 when the legislature passed the first Forest Fire Law and 

 established the office of State Fire Warden. Appropriations to carry 

 on the work of the State were, however, and still are wholly in- 

 adequate and in 1908 timber owners in the Western part of the State 

 organized the Washington Forest Fire Association for the purpose 

 of co-operating with State and Federal authorities in the preservation 

 of the forests from loss by forest fires. The expenses connected with 

 the activities of the Association are borne pro rata by the members 

 according to acreage. 



The Association is governed by a Board of Trustees consisting 

 of seven members elected at the Annual Meeting which is held on the 

 first Tuesday of March each year. Assessments to carry on the work 

 of the Association are levied by the Trustees as needed. The general 

 rule has been to call for one cent per acre at the first meeting of the 

 season and to supplement this call with an additional levy in the month 

 of August, when the amount required to carry the work through the 

 year can be approximated. Assessments levied and amounts expended 

 for forest patrol and protection by this Association are as follows: 



Season Levy Per Acre Expenditures Cost Per Acre 



1908 1 Cent ..$22,998.46 0.91 Cents 



1909 iy 2 " 37,350.54 1.40 " 



1910 2 " 62,788.75 2.31 " 



1911 2 " 55,763.35 1.70 " 



