626 



A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 



FOREST-FIRE PREVENTION AND SUPPRESSION 



One of the most important duties of the Forestry Branch of the 

 Indian Service is the protection of at least 9 millions of acres of 

 Indian forest lands from fire. Many Indian reservations contain 

 large areas of timberlands which are relatively inaccessible and 

 undeveloped, making fire suppression exceedingly difficult and 

 expensive. Although appropriations for this purpose have been 

 somewhat increased in recent years, sufficient funds for equipment, 

 improvements, and personnel to protect Indian forest land from fire 

 adequately have not, generally speaking, been available. The 

 Indian Service has, however, made considerable progress in this work. 

 Since 1910, 43 lookout stations have been built, and over 4,500 miles 

 of road, over 900 miles of trail, and about 2,500 miles of telephone 

 line have been constructed which are principally of value for fire 

 protection and suppression purposes (table 4). 



Accurate statistics as to the causes and extent of forest fires, the 

 resultant damage, and the costs of suppression of such fires on Indian 

 reservations are not available over a long period of time. Table 5 

 presents the best record obtainable, based on reports submitted by 

 superintendents and forest officers. It is probably somewhat in 

 error, especially in the early years, in that some grass and open fires 

 may have been included. 



TABLE 4. Roads, trails, telephone lines, and lookouts on reservations of major im- 

 portance from a forestry standpoint 



i Roads and trails. 



