1220 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



to supply the remainder needed. In the aggregate, private owners 

 were counted on for one half the cost. 



Fire protection systems had already been started in the majority of 

 the forested States. In the Pacific coast and northern Rocky Mount- 

 ain regions private owners had organized fire protection associations 

 and had extended protection over a large percentage of forest lands, 

 being aided only to a small extent by the States. In the New England 

 and Middle Atlantic regions and in some of the States in other regions, 

 protection organizations had been set up at public expense and were 

 giving a degree of protection to part or all of the forest lands within 

 their boundaries. In some of these States the system of State pro- 

 tection followed previous partial protection by owner associations. 

 In States where no protective systems existed or only a beginning had 

 been made at the time Federal cooperation was initiated, the Govern- 

 ment has encouraged activity by matching State and private effort 

 dollar for dollar up to a certain minor percentage of the total amount 

 estimated as necessary. Under this stimulus much progress has been 

 made in the setting up of State organizations, the arousing of public 

 interest, and in actual extension of protection, but there still remains 

 approximately 190 million acres without any form of organized pro- 

 tection. Most of this area lies within the States where protection 

 work has started since the passage of the Federal aid acts, and on a 

 considerable percentage of the land under organized protection the 

 quality is far from adequate. 



Those familiar with the work are agreed that satisfactory progress 

 in fire protection may be expected in the New England, Middle 

 Atlantic, and Lake regions, in those States north of the Ohio River in 

 the Central region, and possibly in California, with a 25 percent 

 Federal contribution. In the South and the Central States south of 

 the Ohio River there is a very large acreage of cut-over lands that 

 are relatively unattractive for private ownership and investment. 

 From a careful consideration of the various factors involved, it seems 

 reasonable to expect that with properly directed public cooperation 

 the private owners in this part of the country might supply about 20 

 per cent of needed effort through cash contribution and other direct 

 aid toward State-wide systems of protection, leaving the balance to 

 be shared between State and Federal funds. 



In determining this estimated percentage, the following factors 

 have been considered: (1) The area of land containing marketable 

 forest products; (2) the area of land containing young growth that is 

 approaching merchantable size; (3) the demonstrated or probable 

 interest of landowners in the establishment of forest stands on cut 

 over areas; (4) the risk of loss from fire; and (5) the sums now being 

 advanced by landowners for organized protection. These factors, of 

 course, vary greatly by States and the average figures cannot be uni- 

 formly applied. In the Southern and the Central States private 

 expenditures for organized protection are much less than the 20 per- 

 cent estimated as possible. There is in total, however, a large amount 

 of effort being expended by individual landowners in the South to 

 protect their own properties, and, with public assistance and encour- 

 agement, it is believed that this effort can be largely expanded. 



The States here under discussion contain about 25 per cent of the 

 country's population. Their citizens do about 16.5 per cent of the 



