Forest Protection 



By B. T. ALLEN. Stata Forester 



ALTHOUGH California has timber resources of vast extent and variety, 

 probably no State has greater need of forest protection. This is true 

 not only because their very extent tends to prevent any feeling of 

 alarm by the present population, but because local conditions re- 

 sult, to a peculiar degree, both in making almost every industry de- 

 pendent upon the forest and in subjecting the forest to unusual 

 danger of destruction. 



It is the just boast of the State that it is an independent common- 

 wealth, able to produce alf it consumes and more. This proves the inter- 

 dependence of local interests quite as positively as it does their variety, and 

 consequently that none can be developed at the expense of the others with- 

 out ultimately injuring its own welfare. Were there only one or two large in- 

 dustries to which forest maintenance is essential, it would still be a matter 

 for State concern. As a matter of fact, nearly every one is not only sympa- 

 thetically, but directly affected. An available timber supply, protection to 

 peculiarly exposed property, and a market maintained by a healthy condi- 

 tion of all lines of business, are all three nearly equally essential to the lum- 

 ber industry. Agriculture in California, as a whole, is not only affected 

 greatly by the prosperity of local consumers and by the price of lumber and 

 wood for domestic purposes, but is absolutely dependent upon irrigation 

 and hence upon forest-covered water sheds. Mining requires both timber 

 and water; stock-growing depends upon the range — a forest product; and 

 the business of every town and transportation company shares directly 

 in the forest revenue. Nor should be omitted the business and pleasure 

 derived from summer travel to the woods, nor the part the latter play in 

 safeguarding the valleys against destructive floods. 



But although California's future prosperity is so directly measured by 

 the permanence of its forest resources, the difficulty of preserving them 

 is equally intensified by local conditions. The thoughtlessness of an im- 

 mense and increasing army of campers, the carelessness of sheepherders, 

 the brush-burning proclivities of irresponsible settlers, and the penny-wise 

 economy of many lumbermen; all these reach their height in this State, 

 and combine for the most effective destructiveness with a climate of eight 

 or more months without rain. Add to this the wasteful lumbering usual in 

 a new timber region, here made habitual in too many instances by a period 

 of indifferent transportation facilities and uncertain market, and continuing 

 after these causes disappear, and it is not difficult to account for the truly 

 alarming increase of the denuded area and decrease of summer stream-flow 

 beyond all proportion to the output of forest products which alone could 

 be their justification. 



The remedy for this evil lies mainly in the hands of the California 

 lumbermen, not because they are more guilty than other classes, but be- 

 cause they have greater opportunity and influence to secure its application, 

 and, since they are most vitally interested, can best afford to make the 

 exertion. They comprise the dominant interest in the regions chiefly 

 affected, and, if they would, could control the situation very effectively. It 

 is for this reason, in my opinion, that the usual appeal to them is misdirected. 

 Forest enthusiasts are too apt to insist that the lumberman adopt cutting 

 methods not practicable under existing conditions, and to forget that he 

 can, practically, render even more valuable co-operation through the fire 

 laws. Of his two possible fields of protective work — the general prevention 

 of fire, and personal adoption of conservative cutting methods — I consider 

 the first the most urgent by far, for without success in that he cannot 

 afford to try the other. 



The first duty of the lumberman, then, should be active co-operation 

 with the State in enforcing its fire laws. The last Legislature enacted ex- 



