A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 



819 



competent supervision of the fire-fighting crews is tremendously 

 important. And last, determination and everlasting persistency until 

 a fire is completely extinguished are necessary. 



State ownership and management of forest land may be the key 

 to successful forest fire protection in some States. The man in charge 

 of a State forest and the crew of men working there can very well be 

 the nucleus of the fire-fighting force that serves the surrounding 

 region. Where this plan is already in effect, it is proving very satis- 

 factory. It seems like the logical development in any State that is 

 building up a system of State forests. 



Division of costs. Table 7 shows, by regions, the present distribu- 

 tion of the costs of maintaining the State systems of cooperative 

 protection. 



TABLE 7. Distribution of cooperative fire protection costs among the participating 

 agencies by regions, fiscal year 1932 



A glance at the percentages in the last three columns of the table 

 shows great variations between regions in the relative share of the 

 Federal Government, the State and local governments, and the pri- 

 vate owners. Thus, in the Middle Atlantic region the private con- 

 tribution in 1932 was only a small fraction of 1 percent of the total, 

 in the Lake region it was less than 1.5 percent, and in New England 

 was 2.75 percent, but in the South it was nearly 20 percent and in 

 the 3 western regions ranged from a little less than 46 percent up to 

 nearly 60 percent. The Federal contribution was greatest in the 

 South, where it exceeded 45 percent, and least in the Middle Atlantic 

 region, where it was less than 17 percent; while the share carried by 

 the State and local governments was greatest in the Middle Atlantic 

 region (more than 83 percent) and least in the North Kocky Mountain 

 region (less than 19 percent). 



Space does not permit going very far into the reasons, important 

 though they often are, for these regional variations; but it is nec- 

 essary to point out in a broad way what the variations signify. 



The Weeks law, which inaugurated the policy of Federal coopera- 

 tion, merely required a State contribution at least equal to the Fed- 

 eral. The Clarke-McNary law of 1924 brought the private owners 

 into the picture. The law was based on a conception of the work 

 of protection as one in the benefits of which the Nation, the States, 



