1402 



A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 



be met. While results on the national forests are on the whole much 

 more satisfactory, examination of groups of critical forest areas 

 (fig. 2) discloses the justification for further intensified effort if the 

 present annual areas burned are to be reduced to the desirable 

 objective. In table 6 are shown the ratios of annual burn to allow- 

 able burn on these critical areas for the three regions in which such 

 areas occur. 



SOUTH 



PACIFIC 



NORTH 

 ROCKY 



SOUTH 

 ROCKY 



15 20 



MILLION ACRES 



TOTAL AREA 



CRITICAL AREA 



FIGURE 2. National forest areas needing protection, total and critical areas, by regions. 



TABLE 6. Ratio of actual annual burn to allowable burn on critical areas l in the 

 national-forest system (average 192630} 



1 The reference here, as in fig. 2, is to considerable blocks of timber where fire risk is high and need of ad- 

 equate protection most urgent. Excluded, for the purposes of this discussion, are "spots" or small tracts 

 of high risk, such as may be found in every region. 



Thus, of the 95 million acres within the national forests requiring 

 protection, 30 million acres in tracts of considerable size are subject 

 to high fire damage and present an unusually critical fire problem. 

 This 31.6 percent of the national-forest area, during the period 

 1926-30, suffered 4.95 times the burn set up in the objective. 



In the past few years the protective organization in this critical 

 group has been materially strengthened by added man power, im- 



