the loss to the public when timber is burned is 

 greater than the loss to the timber owners, 

 the board considered its primary duty was to 

 reduce the heavy annual loss from forest fires. 



The results obtained are shown graphically 

 in the diagram on page two. During 1908, 1909, 

 and 1910, the average fire loss was $663,935.00, 

 while during the six years since the organiza- 

 tion of the board, the annual loss was only 

 $16,250.00. Thirty-nine fortieths, or ninety-seven 

 and one-half per cent of the annual fire loss has 

 been eliminated through organized systematic 

 patrol and fire fighting work backed by 

 effective laws. 



For the past six years, the annual cost of 

 forest fire protection work has been $119,245.00, 

 of which the State's portion was less than 

 $30,000.00, or about twenty-four per cent. The 

 State's expenditures simply allowed of super- 

 vising the work of the patrol associations and 

 private agencies, enforcing the forestry laws, 

 and, in part, looking after the fire hazards in 

 semiagricultural districts outside of the main 

 timber belts. 



Under the Compulsory Patrol Law, the funds 

 needed for patrol, improvement and fire sup- 

 pression work, in the timbered districts, are 

 derived from assessments on timberlands. 



The patrol law authorizes the State Forester 

 to provide patrol for timberlands whose owners 

 fail to provide the same. The law stipulates 

 that the actual cost of the patrol so furnished 

 is to be charged against the lands on the county 

 tax rolls. It does not apply to holdings whose 

 owners live within one and one-half miles of 

 their land. 



The patrol law has been used to strengthen 

 timber owners' cooperative patrol associations, 

 and to stimulate the formation of new associa- 



6 



