WHAT FOREST FIRES COST IN 1910 



WHILE an accurate estimate of the total fire damage of the past season 

 will never be made, enough is known to place the damage to standing 

 timber in round figures at from $175,000,000 to $200,000,000. 



The timber consumed, or damaged beyond hope of utilization before it 

 becomes a total loss by decay, was roughly equivalent to the entire lumber cut 

 of two years, assuming 40,000,000,000 feet as the average annual cut. 



Since not more than one-third as much timber is grown as it takes to meet 

 the yearly demand, it would take six years' growth of all the forests of the country 

 to replace the supply wiped out by this year's fires. 



The cost of fighting these fires was not less than $1,500,000, and probably 

 exceeded this sum. 



Since the production of every thousand feet of lumber represents $10 in 

 wages, $8,000,000 was lost to industry in wages. This is equally true whether or 

 not an equivalent amount is spent for labor in salvage or in converting other 

 forests into manufactured products ; for in the long run, the reduction of the 

 forest stock below the minimum required to meet the current demand means the 

 depression of the lumber industry, curtailment of the cut, and consequently a 

 diminished outlay for labor, with corresponding loss in wages. 



Before the severe fires of August were more than a probability, this magazine 

 placed the loss to property from the fires in the United States and Canada at about 

 $100,000,000. Since then the fires of the Northwest have caused losses of probably 

 not less than $25,000,000 in the national forests, and those of the Northwest 

 and the Lake States together have destroyed not less than $50,000,000 worth of 

 timber owned by states and private persons. 



Details are most complete for the losses to Government timber, and it is 

 probable that state and private owners of timber suffered more nearly three times 

 than twice as heavily as the Nation by these fires. 



A comparison of the public losses with the private losses for the whole 

 country indicates that the private losses were seven times greater than the public 

 losses, in spite of the fact that privately owned forests are not more than five times 

 greater in extent and are more accessible than those publicly owned. 



To replace forests by planting on the 4,000,000 acres burned over would cost 

 not less than $40,000,000. It is likely however that over much of the area natural 

 seeding from live trees left standing will furnish the beginnings of new growth. 



No attempt has been made by AMERICAN FORESTRY to estimate the damage 

 to young growth or to the soil. For much of the burned-over land this damage 

 would increase the estimated losses two or three fold. 



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