PROTECTION 129 



started (as in the case of those started by human 

 agencies) or, after they get started, to get to them 

 with men and fire fighting implements in the short- 

 est possible time after they are found. The former 

 is called fire prevention, and the latter fire suppres- 

 sion or control. How the organization of the Na- 

 tional Forests solves these two problems is of the 

 greatest interest. 



Fire Prevention. The measures employed for 

 fire prevention may be either administrative, legis- 

 lative or educative in nature. 



The most important administrative measures em- 

 ployed to prevent fire are those that aim to reduce 

 the amount of inflammable material in the Na- 

 tional Forests. This is done in many different 

 ways. The free use timber policy enables Rangers 

 to give away much dead timber, both standing and 

 down. Timber operators cutting on the National 

 Forests are required by the Forest Service contract 

 to remove dead snags, which are a fire menace, from 

 the timber sale area. Where there is fire danger, 

 all slashing resulting from such sales must be 

 burned or otherwise disposed of. While grazing 

 is usually not considered a measure to prevent fires, 

 still grass lands that have not been grazed over 



