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ILLINOIS FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 



The Illinois Forestry Association was 

 organized on April 28th at the club rooms 

 of the Lumbermen's Association of Chi- 

 cago. Mr. Balling Arthur Johnson, editor 

 of the Lumber World Review, and Mr. 

 WUliam L. Hall were the moving spirits 

 in bringing about this organization. A 

 constitution similar to that drafted by 

 Missouri was adopted and the, following 

 oflicers were elected: President, Dr. 

 Henry C Cowles, University of Chicago; 

 First Vke President, Boiling Arthur John- 

 son editor Lumber World Review, Chicago; 

 Second Vice President, Prof. J. C. Blair, 

 Department of Horticulture, Urbana, Illi- 

 nois ; Secretary, Mr. S. F. D. Meffley, Sec- 

 retary-Manager, Chicago Lumbermen's 

 .^ssociation of Chicago ; Treasurer, Mr. 

 George A. Pope, of Chicago. The Associ- 

 ation started with thirty-five charter mem- 

 bers and this number will be increased as 

 rapidly as po.^.sible 



LIGHTNING CAUSES MANY FOREST 

 FIRES 



Lightning may not strike twice in the 

 same place although it strikes with surpris- 

 ing regularity, as shown by forest fire 

 statistics just compiled by the Forest Serv- 

 ice. The figures show that during three 

 of the past five years there were 201, 191 

 and 197 forest fires on the National For- 

 ests of Arizona and New Mexico due to 

 lightning, although during the other two 

 years, which were unusually dry, there were 

 considerably more. This small variation 

 of only 10 fires during the three years, 

 indicates, according to Forest Officers, that 

 lightning presents a fairly constant forest 

 fire risk. 



Forest Officers point out the fact that 

 lightning does not always start forest fires 

 since a great deal of it occurs during heavy 

 showers, especially in July and August. 

 Heavy electrical displays during such 

 storms are responsible for many lightning- 

 struck and often shattered trees. Fires 

 rarely start at such times because of the 

 heavy downpour of rain. During June and 

 often the early part of July, however, there 

 are dry electrical storms. The skies cloud 

 up and there is a great deal of lightning 

 and terrific thunder, although little or no 

 rain falls. Ehiring such storms, many trees 

 are struck by lightning and forest fires 

 often result. It is not at all uncommon for 

 three or four fires to start in one locality 

 from storms of this kind and as high as 

 10 fires have been known to start. 



Fortunate for the protection of the for- 

 ests, the Forest Service fire organization 

 always has sufficient warning of the coming 

 of such fires. At the first clap of thunder, 

 the entire organization is on its toes and 

 horses are saddled and packed with provi- 

 sions and tools. In fact, the rangers are 

 ready to go as soon as fires are reported 

 by the fire lookouts. 



Experience has shown also that light- 

 ning fires do not at first spread as rapidly 

 as those caused by man. Ordinarily they 

 smolder for some time at the base of the 

 tree struck, although when once the grass 

 and debris under the tree catches fire, the 

 spread is rapid. This is why the rangers 

 are so anxious to get to the lightning fires 

 quickly. Getting them while small not only 

 saves a lot of forest from destruction but 

 it also saves the rangers a good deal of 

 work. 



Man-caused forest fires, on the other 

 hand, ordinarily spread more rapidly from 

 the start and no warning as to when they 

 will happen is given the rangers. These 

 fires are, therefore more difficult to get 

 to as quickly as lightning fires and often 

 harder to control after arrival. On the 

 other hand man-caused fires are generally 

 in accessible country, along roads and trails 

 where they can be easily reached, whereas 

 lightning may strike anywhere, often in 

 country difficult of access. 



Studies have shown also that lightning 



fires occur most frequently in certain zones. 

 Parts of the National Forests of the South- 

 west have practically never had lightning 

 fires while other localities have repeated 

 fires from this cause. Such areas are be- 

 ing definitely located as quickly as suffi- 

 cient information is gathered and the For- 

 est Service fire organization is being con- 

 stantly modified to take care of these emer- 

 gencies. 



NORTH IDAHO'S FIRE HAZARD 



'T'HE fire hazard in the forests of North 

 Idaho is worse than in any other por- 

 tion of the United States, says C. C. Dela- 

 van, Fire Assistant on the Coeur d'Alene 

 National Forest, in a lecture on forest fire 

 protection which he recently gave to the 

 students of the School of Forestry of the 

 University of Idaho, at Moscow, Idaho. 



Mr. Delavan has made a detailed 

 investigation of the climatic factors af- 

 fecting the fire hazard of this region in 

 conjunction with Mr. J. A. Larsen, U. S. 

 Forest Examiner in charge of the Prie.st 

 River Experiment Station, at Priest Rivei, 

 Idaho. This study showed that although 

 North Idaho's annual rainfall is much 

 more abundant than that of many other 

 sections of the country, its distribution is 

 very uneven and there is practically none 

 during the hot summer months of July and 

 August. At the season when the rainfall 

 is least, the wind movement is greatest 

 and westerly in direction. These westerly 

 winds, having lost their moisture in trav- 

 ersing the Cascades, and having been 

 warmed up without reabsorbing moisture 

 in crossing the deserts of central Wash- 

 ington, strike North Idaho forests with a 

 powerful drying effect and observations 

 actually show that the relative humidity 

 in summer at Spokane is less than that 

 of the Sahara desert. Thus we have the 

 minimum of rainfall and humidity occur- 

 ring when the wind movement, air tem- 

 perature, sunshine and evaporation are 

 greatest, a combination of factors which 

 put the forests in a most inflammable con- 

 dition. 



Southern California has equally severe 

 summer climatic conditions, but there the 

 fire problem is not so serious because the 

 spring rainfall is much less, the forests 

 more open in character and the amount of 

 inflammable material on the ground much 

 less. In North Idaho, the abundant spring 

 and fall rains give rise to a very dense 

 type of forest which creates an abundance 

 of irflammable material and enables the 

 fires which occur to burn fiercely and 

 spread rapidly. 



In dealing with this most serious prob- 

 lem, Mr. Delavan pointed out the neces- 

 sity for care and active co-operation on 

 the part of the public to prevent fires from 

 starting, to extinguish all fires discovered, 

 no matter how small, and to enforce the 

 state and federal fire laws. 



