The Work of the Service 



Read Before Annual Meeting. 

 By D. P. Tierney, Asst State Forester. 



THE original forest area in this State was about 28 mil- 

 lion acres. Of this great area over half has been or will 

 be turned into farms. It is the work of the Forest Service 

 to protect all of the forest resources on the entire area from 

 the ravages of fires and to insure the preservation of the tim- 

 ber to its best uses. 



By an act of the legislature of 1911 a fund of $75,000.00 per 

 annum was provided for the carrying on of this work. In view 

 of the funds which were available previous to this time, this 

 was a decided increase and speaks well for the foresight of 

 those who were responsible for it. It is a good start, but 

 only a start. As a matter of comparison, if this fund of $75,- 

 000.00 were used entirely for the protection of the forests, at 

 an insurance rate, it would amount to approximately l^c per 

 $100.00 of valuation, as against 94c insurance per $100.00 of 

 valuation on all other insurable property in the state. $75,- 

 000.00, then, or l^c per $100.00, is the amount the state pays 

 for the protection of its timber resources. This is an aston- 

 ishing comparison, but it shows, more than any other one 

 thing, how much undervalued are our timber resources. 



Our first care of them, in the organization of a Forest Serv- 

 ice personnel, was to use every possible means to prevent fire. 

 $75,000.00 would go but a very short way in paying for fighting 

 fires such as occurred during the extremely dry season of 

 1910. In preventing fires, our idea has been to carry on a 

 campaign of education among the people living or traveling in 

 the forest districts. The majority of the people need only to 

 be reminded of the great danger of fires carelessly set or let 

 run wild; but a certain number must also be reminded that 

 they will be punished for carelessness or wanton destruction 

 of property. 



