36 AMEKICAN FORESTKY 



be killed by the heat when the land is burned over. Even where great care is 

 exercised such will be the result. In a very large number of cases there is 

 more fuel for tires a second year than there Avas at the first burning. This is 

 not true of solid pine stands, but Michigan and Wisconsin have very little of 

 that kind of timber left. 



The burning of slashings in most cases only relieves the situation tem- 

 jtorarily, for no one lire will take the stumps and old wet logs, which when 

 well rotted burn like tinder, and these, together with the brakes, wintergreens 

 and other vegetation that naturally springs up in all burned districts, find 

 a tire as quickly and as surely as the original slashing. Many remedies con- 

 sidered impractical might be of value if the average labor that can be found 

 for the work could be relied upon to use judgment and care. That class of 

 labor seems to have almost disapi)eared from the earth. The cost of burning 

 the slashings must not be lost sight of because any added expense will prove 

 ruinous to a large number of lumber manufacturers at this time. 



The price of lumber at the mills is very low and admits of no profit to the 

 producer. Hemlock lumber at the saw mill is now worth just about what it 

 was ten years ago, and there was very little profit in it then. Our mixed tim- 

 ber forests of Wisconsin and JNIichigan contain 50 to 80 per cent hemlock. The 

 present stumpage cost is three times w^hat it was then, and the manufactur- 

 ing costs have increased considerably. 



Without question, the only cheap way to burn slashings, in general, is to 

 set tire to large areas and allow the fire to run before the wind. Anyone mak- 

 ing a practice of burning that way hardly will be regarded as a good neighbor. 

 If slashings are to be burned, they must be burned with great care. In heavy, 

 mixed timber the cost will then be prohibitive. But we all will admit that 

 something must be done and at once. In the first place, the timber owners 

 must hell) themselves, after that they may expect some help from others. 



By concerted action the lumbermen can show the country that they are 

 (aking an intelligent interest in the protection of our forests. Unless they 

 combine their eftorts to prevent it they may expect much impractical legisla- 

 tion in the next few years. There must be a campaign of education to spread 

 the truth. The public still needs educating. 



A little over five years ago I organized the Michigan Forestry Association, 

 and, outside of a very few, I could find no one wiio understood what I was 

 talking about when I discussed problems such as we are discussing here. 

 Today everyone knows something about these matters and nearly everyone 

 takes a lively interest in them. Five years more with a proper educational 

 campaign and the average citizen will be able to solve some of the diflicult 

 problems we must meet in trying to save our remaining forests from devasta- 

 tion bv fire. 



There is no better way to prove that the timber owners mean to do their 

 share in this matter than by active organizations, the object of which shall be 

 to prevent forest fires as far as it is possible to do so. The timber owners 

 of the Pacific Northwest are banded together in a dozen or more associations 

 whose object is the prevention of forest fires. They are trying to educate the 

 rest of the people to help them by being more careful. Their rangers fight the 

 fires that do start, and they have been very successful. During the last season 

 when Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana were swept by a perfect hurri- 

 cane of fire, comparatively little damage was done on the timber lands pa- 

 trolled by them. Many tires started but few of them gained headway enough 

 to cause extensive loss. The rangers of one association put out about 1,200 

 fires last season. 



1 recently organized the Northern Forest Protective Association along the 

 lines of the western associations. It started out with a membership represent- 



