FOREST FIRES IX XORTH CAROLINA. 27 



organization and maintenance of a system of fire protection on any private or 

 State forest lauds within such State or States and situated upon the water- 

 shed of a navigable river: Provided, that no such stipulation or agreement 

 shall be made with any State which has not provided by law for a system of 

 forest fire protection : Provided further, that in no case shall the amount 

 expended in any State exceed in any fiscal year the amount appropriated hy 

 that State for the same purpose during the same fiscal year. 



As no appropriation is made by the State for fire protection, tliis la^v 

 can be invoked at present only to a very limited extent. Under the 

 mlings of the United States Forest Service the legal regular apportion- 

 ment of State moneys paid out for fire preventive measures can be 

 counted in the same way as a direct appropriation. The State Geologist 

 has recently arranged for an expenditure of $2,000 per year for the next 

 ten years for this purpose. As a result of this arrangement, an annual 

 apportionment of Federal funds up to the same amount has been secured ; 

 to be used, according to the ruling of the United States Department of 

 Agriculture, for patrol and lookout work on forests covering the head- 

 waters of streams in the western j)art of the State. 



In addition to this, there are now being advanced tentative plans for 

 a scheme of cooperation wdth county and township governments, or with 

 groups of private landowners, whereby they may be able to obtain the 

 benefits of the new law without any large State expenditure. 



Appointment of Forest Wardens. 



The township and district forest wardens, whose appointment by the 

 State Forester is permitted under section 2, should be men of known fit- 

 ness for the work which they are to undertake. They should be residents 

 of the county and township in which they are to work, should be familiar 

 with all parts of their district, should be men used to the woods, experi- 

 enced in fighting fires, on good terms with their neighbors, strong, 

 healthy, absolutely honest, and able to make out intelligently such few 

 reports as will be required of them. Where such men are willing to de- 

 vote a part of their time to the seiwice of the State, receiving only such 

 compensation as is provided in the law, the number of fires will un- 

 doubtedly be greatly reduced, as has been the experience under similar 

 conditions in many other States. 



It is not proposed to appoint Avardens in every township or county in 

 the State, because in many their seTvices are not required, the small 

 areas of woodland and the attitude of the public against forest fires 

 making the seiwices of a forest warden unnecessary. During the past six 

 years in which figures on forest fires have been collected the greatest 



