PKOTECTINK LEGISLATION PROPOSED BY WISCONSIN 221 



in his county. He should be under the direct orders of his chief, report to him 

 weekly, be obliged to keep one or more saddle horses, and cover every part of 

 his county at stated intervals. 



Under the direct supervision and orders of the head patrols in each county 

 would be county forest fire patrols, varying in number according to the size 

 of the county, and the amount of forest land to be protected, but sufficient in 

 number so that each man would not have over 40,000 acres of land to patrol. 

 For the twenty-two northern counties which it is proposed that the patrols 

 shall cover, it is expected that at least 322 men will be required. The plan 

 is that all these men shall be secured from lumber companies who only operate 

 in winter, as thus their best men would be given work every summer, the 

 state would secure the services of trained woodsmen, and both the state and 

 the lumber companies would gain the great advantage of having permanent 

 men upon whose ability they could count. Each county patrol would have 

 a given territory to look after and for which he would be responsible, they 

 would live in cabins or shacks, and whenever possible they would be mounted 

 so as to patrol quickly and to get to a fire with the least possible delay. They 

 should be instructed to at once call upon every settler in their territory, ex- 

 plain the fire laws thoroughly, and in every way try to make the settlers 

 appreciate that they are working for their interest and want their hearty co- 

 operation. 



As soon as funds are available, telephone lines should be built to connect 

 all the patrol camps or cabins, so that the head patrol could call all his men 

 together at any point in the county to fight fire, and wherever possible watch 

 towers should be built, where men would be stationed in dangerously dry 

 times to immediately report signs of fire in any direction. Such watch towers 

 have been built by the lumbermen in Maine and have proved very useful. 



During wet seasons when there is practically no danger from forest fire, 

 the head patrol in each county should call his men together and clear up old 

 logging roads, logging railroad rights of way, trails, etc., so that they could 

 be used as fire lines. This is very important as our experience in fighting 

 fires for the last few years has proved over and over again that the men are 

 seriously handicapped in checking fires promptly, from the fact that there 

 are so few roads which are kept clear of brush, and therefore they have no 

 fire line to fall back upon in case of necessity. Much good can also be done 

 by felling old snags, which are the means of spreading fire to a great distance 

 in a heavy wind and also by burning at favorable times heavy and dangerous 

 slash where it is a constant menace to adjoining timber or other property. 



In this connection it should be noted that it is proposed to include in the 

 law an important provision giving the state board of forestry power to order 

 the burning of dangerous slash, so as to provide a reasonably wide strip next 

 to adjoining property which is menaced by such slash, and that if the owner of 

 the land or the timber fails to comply with the order of the board within a 

 specified and reasonable period, the state board of forestry shall burn such 

 slash, the cost thereof to be a first lien upon the land or timber. If the state 

 of Wisconsin is not to have a general slash burning law, it is absolutely 

 necessary that the state, through some board or commission, should have the 

 riwht to determine when and where slash is such a public nuisance that it 

 must be destroyed. In this way each case can be carefully considered and the 

 law if enforced fairly and efficiently, should be a very effective means of 

 forest protection. 



One of the most important jirovisions of the proposed law is to provide 

 that no fires shall be set by any one from Ai)ril 1st to December 1st (except 

 for warming the person or cooking food) without a written permit from a 

 patrol or fire warden. This would mean that any fires set for the purpose of 



