/ 



A Beaver at work. 



garded the "smoke season" as inevitable. Yet the forest 

 service has mastered the fires so far as the average season 

 is concerned, even with their inadequate force of fire guards. 

 Even today in certain portions of the East, people wag their 

 heads and say fire prevention is impossible; the reason being 

 that no organized effort to prevent them has ever been under- 

 taken in these sections. 



Forest fires can, however, be prevented everywhere, even 

 in the year of greatest drought. But it cannot be accomplished 

 without adequate preparation. The plan of fire protection in 

 the national forests is not confined to the problems of the 

 ordinary or normal season. It looks far ahead and works to 

 a full preparation during the worst season that may occur 

 and some time will certainly occur. It looks to the prevention 

 of such a loss as resulted in Idaho in 1910. 



This result will be obtained not merely through the pres- 

 ence of guards and fire fighters these are, of course, an ab- 

 solute necessity but through an adequate development of a 

 system of roads, trails, telephone lines, fire lines, lookout sta- 

 tions, tool caches, ranger stations, and other improvements 

 which are necessary to make it possible to contend with fires. 

 These improvements are being built in the national forests 

 as fast as available funds permit. They are being built ac- 



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