812 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



values basic to the predominant purposes of management. While 

 the damage done to the forest by individual fires varies widely, even 

 in a given type of forest, depending upon the intensity of the fire and 

 the particular condition of the area, if a sufficiently large area is under 

 consideration it is possible to fix upon a protection objective based on 

 average consequences. Over a long term of years, if the annual burn 

 does not average above a certain small percentage of the total area 

 under protection, the aggregate injury done will not, from the stand- 

 point of the total area, generally defeat the purposes of management 

 though it may in individual cases; just as a satisfactorily efficient city 

 fire department provides no guarantee that an individual business 

 with fire risk uncovered by insurance may not be bankrupted by a 

 bad fire on its premises, or that a conflagration may not deal the whole 

 city a severe blow. In other words, "allowable burn" does not mean 

 that if fires are held, over a term of years, to an area limitation of a 

 certain annual percentage of the entire area protected, damage will 

 be eliminated or ruinous losses will universally be put an end to ; but 

 it sets up an objective of public policy based on what appears to be 

 necessary in the interest of the general welfare. Beyond that, the 

 problems are individual and are left to the individual. 



Whether protection that conforms with standards thus established 

 may appropriately be designated as " satisfactory " depends on the 

 meaning attached to this word. To assume that any standards now 

 set up will be permanently satisfactory would be unwise. Time brings 

 progress. Whether the passenger automobiles of today can be termed 

 satisfactory machines depends on the viewpoint. Certainly they are 

 not satisfactory to their manufacturers; each year sees changes in 

 the models. So it is with forest-fire protection. One or more States 

 are even now keeping their fires within limits that they set up as ob- 

 jectives a number of years ago. Most of them are not, but they are 

 striving for it. Some may not be making rapid progress, for reasons 

 beyond their control. Some may have set up goals beyond their 

 reach, beyond what the State and cooperating agencies can or will pay 

 for at present. In no case, however, is the organization resting on its 

 oars. Improvement of the personnel, of the equipment, of relations 

 with the public, and of methods are being sought even in the States 

 that are already accomplishing all that they set out to do. 



In another section of this report, entitled Protection Against Fire, 

 the authors have set up standards by which to rate the adequacy of 

 the protection now being given the forests of the country regionally, 

 through a comparison between "allowable burn" and actual burn. 

 Table 6 shows the results obtained in the 5-year period 1926-30 and 

 the relationship between these results and the degree of intensiveness 

 of protection which would be necessary to make the average annual 

 burn equal to the "allowable burn" as estimated by the Forest Serv- 

 ice, on the basis of present knowledge. The 5-year period is too short 

 to afford an entirely dependable basis for a rating of the performances ; 

 but the progress that is steadily being made by the States in the effec- 

 tiveness of the protective work and in the extension of the area covered 

 would tend to make the showing less, rather than more representative 

 were the record prior to 1926 included. Because the figures for the 

 South Rocky Mountain region do not represent the results of organ- 

 ized protection administered by the States themselves, this region 

 is not brought into the showing. 



