680 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



cendiaries. Carelessness was the cause of most of them, 

 and this emphasizes all the more the need for wide- 

 spread public education in the proper use of fire, espe- 

 cially when in the woods. This is a movement to which 

 every man, woman and child in America should lend his 

 best eflForts and willing, whole-hearted cooperation, and 

 it will take something more than passive cooperation at 

 that. 



The fire problem is one which also requires concerted 

 action by the Federal and State governments to do the 

 things which must be done by public agencies. Today, 

 through cooperation with the Forest Service, 27 States 



Federal allotment for that State. 



4. Fire protection by the State must not only include 

 merchantable timber, but also cut-over land and young 

 growth ; in short, must cover all classes of forest land. 



On this basis, there are still 15 States, with a total of 

 175,000,000 acres of timbered land, which have taken 

 little or no action in forest fire prevention matters, and 

 are, therefore, not eligible to receive Federal aid. These 

 are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, 

 Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Mis- 

 souri, Illinois, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Wyoming. 

 Lack of public sentiment for organized control of forest 



THE TR.AGIC AFTERMATH LOSS INCALCULABLE 



During the past five years the total loss from forest fires in 45 states was more than $85,000,000, and an area of 56,488,000 acres 



was burned over. 



are receiving Federal funds for the protection of their 

 forest lands. Over 150 million acres of the principal 

 timber regions of the country are thus being guarded 

 against devastation by fire. Jhe limitations governing 

 Federal aid in fire protection under the so-called "Weeks 

 Law," which was originally passed by Congress in 191 1, 

 are: 



1. It is only extended to States that have provided 

 by law for a system of fire protection. 



2. It is limited to the watersheds of navigable streams. 



3. The State must expend an amount equal to the 



fires is prevalent in many of these States ; in others, fire 

 prevention legislation has been pending for a number of 

 years without favorable action. Probably nowhere in 

 in the United States is education on the evils resulting 

 from uncontrolled forest fires as badly needed as among 

 the citizens of the South. 



But the South is not the only part of the country that 

 should be awakened to the importance of this present-day 

 problem. While there are now several States which are 

 protecting a part of their forests equally well with the 

 Forest Service, or even more efficiently, nevertheless. 





