384 AMERICAN FOKESTRY 



and also the inspection of the use of government funds and the results accom- 

 plished thereby, which it may be desirable for the Forest Service to make 

 from time to time. A distinction has also been made between state patrolmen 

 and federal patrolmen, which will facilitate keeping separate the work charged 

 to the state and that charged to the federal government. 



The State Forester of New Hampshire, acting as the representative of 

 the State Forestry Commission, has a Forest Service appointment which will 

 permit him to employ federal patrolmen and certify to their services on Forest 

 Service payrolls. The state forester is given as much authority and latitude 

 as possible in the expenditure of federal funds, in the belief that he should be 

 placed in practically the same position as the national forest supervisors, by 

 allowing him a wide degree of discretion while at the same time making him 

 fully accountable for results. He selects the federal patrolmen, subject to 

 Forest Service approval, instructs them as to their duties, and supervises 

 their work. He has supplied the Service, at its request, with a comprehensive 

 fire plan, including maps showing the areas to be protected, the headquarters 

 and approximate routes of the federal patrolmen, and all features necessary 

 to a clear understanding of the state's plan of fire control. 



The federal patrolmen are to have such police powers for the prevention 

 and control of forest fires as the laws of New Hampshire provide; they are 

 authorized to employ assistance in fighting fires ; and they are to be equipped 

 with fire fighting tools. 



The Forest Service will inspect the cooperative work on the protected 

 areas, and it is authorized to withdraw its approval of any such area or 

 terminate the employment of the state forester or of any federal patrolman. 



The cooperation will, I believe, result in great benefit to New Hampshire,* 

 and the federal government is glad to help a state that has done so much, 

 although just recently, in providing its forests with protection from fire. 

 Similar work will be done in other states. Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, 

 Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, Wisconsin, and Minnesota have requested 

 federal cooperation in forest fire protection. Agreements with Maine, New 

 Jersey and Wisconsin are before the Department and it is probable that 

 before July 1 they will have been signed by the Secretary of Agriculture. 

 During the present season not more than |10,000 will be expended in any one 

 state. The Forest Service has taken the view that this sort of cooperation, 

 being entirely new to it, should be conducted on a restricted scale until the 

 best methods have been determined by experience, and that it should use 

 the funds available for the purpose to encourage local effort in as many 

 different states as possible. I am exceedingly enthusiastic over this work 

 and the opportunity given for the most practical kind of cooperation with 

 the states. I look upon it as the beginning of a great work in protecting the 

 forests of the country from fire, especially those of the eastern states. I 

 feel confident that the early results of this cooperation will encourage states 

 which have no forest fire protective systems to provide for them and make 

 adequate appropriations, so that they may have fulfilled the requirements of 

 the Weeks laws and thus be in a position to receive federal aid. 



