A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



1411 



set up in this discussion on the present area of State and privately 

 owned forest land within the next 10 or 15 years, an annual expendi- 

 ture of about $20,000,000 would be required, or the per-acre costs 

 shown in table 12. 



TABLE 12. Estimated present and proposed costs per acre of fire control on areas 

 in State, private, and other ownership outside national forests 



1 Present costs were calculated by charging the total expenditures against the total area needing protection 

 although in the Central and South regions many million acres are entirely unprotected. 



2 Incomplete record of expenditure on private land in New Mexico. 



3 This figure subject to change as more complete records of current expenditures become available. 



The estimate is not final and is subject to further revision as better 

 data become available. In the course of time, as antifire sentiment 

 increases, the cost of protection may be expected to decrease. On 

 the other hand, the areas of forest and potential forest land as esti- 

 mated in 1930 will undoubtedly have to be increased in future calcu- 

 lations because of additions from farm-land abandonment. It should 

 be noted that these costs, in contrast to those for national forests, 

 include only small present or proposed expenditures for roads or trails. 

 In the main, such items will be financed, as in the past, out of highway 

 and road appropriations as the need for additional community and 

 State roads arises; whereas, on the national forests the cost of pro- 

 tection for roads is specifically provided for by Congress. 



For the South region it has been extremely difficult to estimate 

 the cost of adequate protection because of lack of information on the 

 huge area now entirely unprotected. The $11,000,000 estimated for 

 this region therefore must necessarily be regarded only as a reasonable 

 approximation of ultimate cost if the total acreage given in table 4 

 were to be adequately protected. The task is, however, so great, 

 and the probability of protection being given to the entire area is 

 so uncertain, that if $6,000,000 were to be set up as the goal, it would 

 more nearly represent the possibilities of attainment in the next 15 

 to 20 years. 



The data in table 12 indicate needed increases in every region 

 varying from 5.8 mills per acre in the Middle Atlantic region to 5 

 cents in the South. Relative increases are even more striking. In 

 the South, where it has already been shown that the burned-over 

 area is 13.8 times the ultimate objective, annual expenditures would 

 have to be increased at least twelvefold if the total acreage were to 

 be put under adequate control. In the Pacific Coast region, where the 

 burn is five times the objective, double the present expenditures will 

 be required. 



In contrast with the estimate of $20,000,000 required for adequate 

 protection of areas outside of the national forests, total expenditures 



