130 OUR NATIONAL FORESTS 



become very dry in the fall and are a dangerous 

 fire menace. Wherever it is feasible, old slash left 

 by lumbermen on private lands adjacent or near to 

 the National Forests are burned, when the fire can 

 be confined to a small area. Another administra- 

 tive measure is the reduction of the causes of fires 

 by a patrol force. Forest Guards travel along the 

 highways where there is most traffic and most dan- 

 ger. Their presence often is enough to remind 

 campers, hunters and fishermen to put their camp 

 fires out before leaving them. These patrolmen 

 mix with the people and, if necessary, remind them 

 in a courteous way to be careful to extinguish their 

 camp fires before breaking camp. 



Most of the necessary legislative measures for 

 preventing forest fires already exist. The Na- 

 tional Forest force is seeking merely to obtain a 

 strict enforcement of existing laws. Railroads are 

 required to use spark-arresters on their locomotives 

 and to provide for keeping their rights-of-way free 

 from inflammable material. Logging camps must 

 also prevent the destruction of National Forest 

 timber by fire by using spark-arresters on all log- 

 ging engines. The Forest officers are ever on 



