12 



MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



SALVATION FROfl 



FOREST FIRES 



Salvation from the forest fire, Michigan's 

 deadly enemy, is at hand, writes the Washing- 

 ton correspondent of the Grand Rapids Press. 

 The way is pointed by the results of an experi- 

 ment which the national forest service has heen 

 conducting. At the helm is Gifford Pinchot, 

 the national forester, under whose supervision 

 Michigan's problem is being worked out in 

 faraway California. Of each step most careful 

 record has been made, so that the forest ser- 

 vice is now able to give to the once great pine 

 state definite facts and figures about protec- 

 tion from devastating fires. 



Forest protection is in its infancy and even 

 wise men like Charles W. Garfield and Prof. 

 Roth, leaders in Michigan's forestry move- 

 ment, "do not know as much about it as they 

 would like. Information about the cost of fire 

 protection, its efficiency, and its ultimate profit, 

 from a purely financial standpoint, lias been 

 almost entirely lacking. But now important 

 information is supplied from an authoritative 

 source information which haas been gathered 

 under conditions of careful scientific experi- 

 ment. 



The net result of the government's experi- 

 ment in a nutshell is to show that the steps 

 thus far taken by the Michigan forestry com- 

 mission are in the right direction; that the con- 

 struction of fire lines, the establishment of 

 patrols, the burning of slash, the maintenance 

 of tool stations, even the maintenance of tele- 

 phone lines, will practically eliminate the lire 

 danger at a reasonable cost. 



Experiment in California. 



Mr. Pinchot's important experiment was 

 made upon the land of a private lumber com- 

 pany operating in Siskiyou county, California. 

 The McCloud River Lumber Company sought 

 the government's help, and devoted 15,000 of 

 its 300,000 acres as an experimental area. The 

 land, though at an elevation of 3,000 feet, is 

 comparatively level, just like the greater part 

 of the forest and pine barren lands of Michigan. 



In the experimental area there were but 

 sixty acres of virgin yellow pine forest, while 

 5,804 acres, formerly covered with the first 

 growth of yellow pine, had been cut over. Of 

 red fir sixty-four acres in the experimental area 

 was virgin forest, while 4,083 acres had been 

 cut over. 



The balance of the area consisted largely of 

 brush, pole stand and pine thicket. On the 

 cut-over sections the company had left stand- 

 ing yellow pine which, at the time of cutting, 

 were considered too small for profitable lum : 

 bering, but which will serve to seed the open 

 areas and to form the basis of a future cut. 



How Fire Lines Were Built. 



The fire lines were constructed in the fall 

 of 1904 and the spring of 1905. They followed 

 wagon roads, tramroads and spurs the paths 

 of least resistance. The lines varied from two 

 hundred to four hundred feet in width. The 

 line along the railroad was four hundred feet 

 wide because of the great danger from sparks. 

 Thus fifteen miles of lire line were constructed 

 at an average cost of $15 per mile. These 

 fifteen miles afford protection to about 15,000 

 acres at a cost ol 1}/2 cent sper acre. 



One patrolman only was required. His 

 route was twenty-five miles in length and fol- 

 lowed the higher elevations. On his horse 

 the patrolman covered this route four months 

 of the year, from June to September, inclusive. 

 During the balance of the year no patrol was 

 considered necessary because of the rainfall. 

 The patrolman was given authority to employ 

 and organize crews for lire lighting. lie was 

 paid $7.5 per month, this sum including main- 

 tenance of his horse.- The total cost for the 

 season was $30, or ]/, cent per acre. AN .-, 

 matter of fact the patrolman was able to cover 



70,000 acres instead of merely the 15,000 acres 

 in the experimental area. 



Fire Fighting Apparatus. 



Three tool stations were established. They 

 were merely chests, each provided with six 

 long handled shovels, two axes and two iron 

 rakes. Their cost, including tools, was $10 

 each. Telephone already covered a consider- 

 able portion of the experimental area so that 

 the construction of but three miles of new- 

 line was necessary. Old poles were used, so 

 that the cost was but $15 per mile. New con- 

 struction would have cost $,"i() per mile. 



The total cost of protection for the first year 

 was $600, or 4 cents for each acre in the experi- 

 mental area. P,ut the patrol, telephone line 

 and tool stations covered about 70,000 acres on 

 the basis of which the expense for these items 

 was l /2 cent per acre. The fire lines covered 

 ml}- 15.000 acres of the experimental area. On 

 this b,;r*i-. the total cost of protection for the 

 first year was. :.' cents for each acre in the ex- 

 perimental area, including the initial cost for 

 lire HiH's. tool stations and telephone, which 

 will not be chargeable in subsequent years. 



Slashings Burned Over. 



In addition to the above protective meas- 

 ures slash was burned on the 5,804 acres of 

 cutover land. No piling of slash was neces- 

 sary because of the manner of lumbering fol- 

 lowed at McCloud. The cost was :':', cents 

 per acre, or 1J/2 cents per thousand feet logged, 

 which the forest service regards as low-. 



The fire record for 1905 at McCloud is re- 

 garded by the forest service as the best argu- 

 ment for a complete scheme of fire protection. 

 A few fires started, but none of these was on 

 the experimental area. Moreover each was put 

 out by the patrolman without assistant-. The 

 lumber company was so pleased with the re- 

 sults that the plan wa- extended in 1906 to 

 cover all of its 300,000 acres. Three additional 

 patrolmen were employed, tire lines were 

 burned, tool station and telephone lines con- 

 structed. 



The ultimate test of the desirability of such 

 protection from the standpoint of the owner 

 is the net return. In the case at McCloud 

 there is apparently no question on this score, 

 as shown by the reckonings of the forest ser- 

 vice. 



At the beginning of the experiment the area 

 was thoroughly cruised and conservative es- 

 timates were made as to the yield forty years 

 hence. The yield of fir was placed at more 

 than 34,000,000 feet and the total yield of pine 

 it 75,835,000 board feet. Of the pine yield 

 10,924,000 was reckoned as yellow pine and 

 this alone was considered in figuring the profit. 

 The fir yield was totally disregarded in order 

 that the figures might be made doubly con- 

 servative. 



Counting Cost End Profit. 



The total investment at the end of forty 

 years is made up of aggregates of the initial 

 expense, annual expense and compound inter- 

 est. The items of initial expense follow: Tel- 

 phone and tool stations, $75; burning slash, 

 $1,334.92; fire lines, $225. In these reckonings 

 all the initial expense is charged to the 15,000 

 icres only. The items of annual expense are: 

 Taxes, $242.88; patrol, $300. The total invest- 

 ment, if interest is compounded at '> per cent. 

 is $46.267; if at 4 per cent, $59.4:16 ; at 5 per 

 cent. $77,000. The value of pine lumber forty 

 years hence is in doubt. The gross value of 

 'he yield at $'! per thousand feet would be 

 122,772, only the 40,924.000 of yellow pine be- 

 ing considered; at $4 per thousand. $1<;:i,r>96; at 

 $5 per thousand. $24,62; at $6, $245,544. The 

 net return will depend on the price per thous- 

 and and the interest rate allowed .as shown 

 by this table: 



Price 345 



per 1.000 per cent. per cent. per cent. 



$3 $ 76,505 $ 03.336 $ 45,fis:.> 



$4 1I7,4:.'9 104.260 S6.ii()6 



$"> J.-)S.:;.->3 . 145,184 . 127,530 



$6 199,277 186,108 168,454 



The difficulty with this reckoning is that no 

 allowance is made for the value of the trees 

 which are left standing to insure a second 

 growth. 



Second Growth Considerations. 



This is properly disregarded with reference 

 to the McCloud area, for at the time of first 

 cutting the trees left were so small that they 

 were not worth cutting. 



Hut subsequently the price of pine has so 

 advanced that it would be profitable to cut 

 tree.-, of the size which were then left. This 

 fact leads to the caution from the forest ser- 

 vice that fire protection as practiced at Mc- 

 Cloud might not apply equally well in its 

 present form to other tracts. But the service, 

 in its official report, comments: 



"It is firmly believed that, even considering 

 the permanent investment of capita"! in mer- 

 cantile timber on the ground, conservative 

 lumbering and fire protection will show a fair 

 rate of interest on the investment, but that, 

 barring exceptionally rapid advances in stump- 

 age values, this rate of interest will be com- 

 paratively small. There is, however, another 

 argument in favor of protection, namely, a 

 continuance of the supply for the mill. Thus, 

 if leaving trees and protecting the land will 

 show a fair rate of interest on the money in- 

 i. it is an entirely practical plan from a 

 business standpoint." 



At any rate the McCloud Lumber Company 

 is abundantly satisfied and has modified its 

 logging operations. At present that company 

 is cutting virgin timber to a diameter limit of 

 thirty inches breast high, which leaves an ex- 

 cellent basis for a future cut. 



A SPLENDID COMMISSION. 



Governor Warner has appointed the follow- 

 ing members of a commission to investigate 

 forestry in Michigan: Robert D. Graham, 

 Grand Rapids, chairman; C. V. R. Townsend, 

 Negaunee; George B. Horton, Fruit Ridge; 

 Carl E. Schmidt, Detroit; Wm. E. Orrnun, 

 Montague; A.. E. Palmer, Kalkaska; Albert B. 

 Cook, Owosso; Francis King, AlmajDwight 

 B. Waldo, Kalamazoo. 



The members of the new commission to in- 

 vestigate forestry are men who have taken a 

 deep interest in the subject. The report which 

 it will be prepared to make to the legislature 

 next session ought to bring about legislation 

 which will eventually give back to Michigan a 

 large portion of her forest wealth of which 

 she has' been stripped. 



Win. B. Mershon, of Saginaw, has been ap- 

 pointed by Governor Warner to succeed Ar- 

 thur Hill as a member of the state forestry 

 commission. 



HOW FORESTS SERVE PUBLIC. 



"The Use of the National Forests," a publi- 

 cation just printed by the Department of Agri- 

 culture, is a brief, clear manual for public in- 

 formation as to the forest policy of the nation- 

 al government. 



It is too true, as the short preface to the 

 public says, that "many people do not know 

 what national forests are. Others may have 

 heard much about them, but have no idea of 

 their true purpose and use.'' It is the object 

 of this publication to explain just what the 

 national forests mean, what they are for and 

 how to use them. 



In the first place, it is explained how the 

 forests are created and how their boundaries 

 are drawn. Xext. their direct use and value 

 are shown from the point of view of the home- 

 seeker, the prospector and miner, the user of 

 timber .the user of the range, the user of water 

 and other users of forest resources. Third, it 

 is >hown how the forests are intended for use, 

 for the production of usable products and for 

 the establishment and maintenance of homes: 

 how on all of them the timber is protected 

 from fire, the water flow is kept steady, the 

 forage on the range is increased and guarded 

 from abuse: and how, in addition, they serve 

 as great public playgrounds and as breeding 

 places and refuges for game. Finally, the man- 

 agement of the national forests is described. 



