338 PLANTS AND MAN 



equalled those amounts actually cut for use. The Tillamook fire of 

 1933 in western Oregon burned for ten days and destroyed eight 

 times as much timber as was cut in the Pacific Northwest region 

 during the previous year. Not only do forest fires burn up valuable 

 standing timber, but what is even more important, they prevent 

 the natural and satisfactory reproduction of the forest, thus 

 destroying future, as well as present forests. Fires burn the valu- 

 able nutrient materials out of the surface soil layers, impoverish- 

 ing such soils and making more difficult the reestablishing of a 

 forest cover. Such soils are much more open to washing by water, ' 

 or erosion, which results in loss of the surface soil and its result- 

 ant deposition in stream channels and reservoirs, thus decreasing 

 their capacity for water, and resulting in overflow and flooding. 

 In addition to all the above mentioned losses is the loss of 

 human life and property in fires. The Peshtigo fire of 1871, in 

 Wisconsin, resulted in over fifteen hundred deaths; and the 

 Hinckley fire of 1894, in Minnesota, resulted in the loss of over 

 six hundred lives. 



Smokers, incendiaries, and camp fires are responsible for 

 approximately one-half the total forest fires. Lightning, the only 

 natural cause of fire, starts about two-fifths of the fires. Although 

 the number of fires has increased during the last twenty five 

 years, due to the increasing use of the forest by the public, it is 

 encouraging to note that the losses due to fires have generally 

 decreased because of the more adequate protection given to the 

 forests. Increased efficiency in detecting and suppressing forest 

 fires will aid further in decreasing losses of this kind, but educa- 

 tion and cooperation of the forest-using public is also vitally 

 necessary. It is easy for a camper to extinguish his cigarette before 

 dropping it, or to put out his campfire before leaving it; but it is 

 not easy for a forest fire guard to make a special trip, by truck and 

 on foot, to suppress the fire if it is detected in time; or for an army 

 of men to spend weeks controlling the fire if detection is delayed, 

 the forest is very dry, or a strong wind is fanning the flames into 

 the tops of the trees. 



Forest insect pests, although resulting in much less dramatic 

 effects than fire, constitute a serious problem in forest manage- 

 ment. They cause a damage to forests and forest products which 



