(Prom the Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture, 



San Francisco Office) 



UNITED STATES COOPERATES 



WITH MONTANA AGAINST FOREST FIRES 



Cooperative agreements involving the forest service, the 

 State of Montana, and the Northern Pacific Railroad have just 

 been renewed so that they will extend through the fiscal year 

 beginning July l,and ending June 30, 1915. 



The agreement with the state of Montana provides that 

 federal and state patrolmen shall cooperate to form one single 

 force for handling forest fires. This force, in any locality, 

 acts under the direction of the forest supervisor in charge of 

 the nearest national forest. This arrangement is entered into, 

 according to the agreement, so as "to secure the greatest ef- 

 ficiency and avoid duplication of patrol". The agreement applies 

 to all government and state lands lying within the exterior 

 boundaries of the national forests in Montana. 



The number of patrolmen supplied by the state is in 

 proportion to the acreage of state land within each national 

 forest. No patrolman receives less than a certain minimum wage, 

 and appointments by the State must be sf proved by the district 

 forester. State patrolmen are made federal "forest guards", and 

 are employed particularly during the four months deemed by the 

 district forester to be the ones most likely to have forest 

 fires, 



All lands within the various forests are thus patrolled 

 against fire* The agreement provides that each patrolman, fed- 

 eral and state, "shall keep vigilant lookout for forest fires 

 and shall make every possible effort to extinguish them whether 

 on lands belonging to the state or to the government or on lance 

 adjacent thereto where the fire threatens such lands. 



Besides the state and other lands, there are scattered 

 through the national forests in Montana many tracts, usually in 

 alternate sections, owned or claimed by the Northern Pacific 

 Railroad. The agreement between this railroad and the forest 

 service provides for the same kind of cooperative patrol that 

 exists between the government and the state of Montana, 



A third agreement, a continuing one, provides for coopera- 

 tion between the forest service and the state under the so-calle<3 

 Weeks Law fcr protecting state and private lands on the water- 

 sheds of navigable streams. The government allots the state tliu 

 sum of 3,500 a year, which is expended for the salaries of fed- 

 eral patrolmen, and the state agrees to expend at least an equal 

 amount for fire protection purposes of any character. 



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161-F 



