NORTH CAROLINA FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 



31 



States, on the watersheds where cooperative fire protection was established 

 last year by the State and the timberland owners with the Federal Gov- 

 ernment. 



While the danger season of 1911 was the longer, and was considered gen- 

 erally to be the more severe, still the area burned over and the value of the 

 damage were considerably less than in 1903. This is very significant. The 

 decrease can unquestionably be attributed largely to the protection afforded 

 in 1911 as compared with the almost utter lack of it, except by some few 

 private owners, in 1903. 



The Federal Government desires to extend this cooperative protection to 

 other States. To secure its benefits they must enact a forest fire law and appro- 

 priate funds for administering it. There are many States which could take 

 hardly a more effective step toward the conservation of resources which 

 support important industries than to inaugurate systematic fire protection. 

 The fact that the immediate financial interests of timber owners make them 

 backward in undertaking this insurance of their industry is an additional 

 reason for the States to take the lead. The readiness of the Federal Govern- 

 ment to cooperate with the States, under the terms of the Weeks law, as soon 

 as they make a start is an incentive to immediate action. 



A State fire law should provide, in addition to an organization to fight fires, 

 a patrol force to prevent fires, as far as possible, from starting. The law 

 should, of course, carry an adequate appropriation. A general defect in State 

 forest fire laws is that they provide only for fighting fires and not for a patrol. 

 Their most serious handicap is the inadequacy of the appropriations. To 

 protect the national forests costs about two cents an acre annually; the Bilt- 

 more tract in this State, about five cents an acre; and the lands of the various 

 timberland protective associations in the northeastern and northwestern 

 States, from two to four cents an acre. It is probable that a State can secure 

 eflicient protection for one cent an acre, if the larger private owners will 

 assist by contributing toward the protection of their own lands. If, for ex- 

 ample, a State has five million acres that need protection, an annual expendi- 

 ture of $50,000 should be sufficient to handle the work effectively. It is im- 

 probable that the State would appropriate this amount at the beginning. An 

 appropriation of $10,000 or even less would be sufficient to start the work and 

 demonstrate its value. 



It will interest you to know what the States appropriate yearly for fire pro- 

 tection. Maine appropriates $68,000, New Hampshire $12,000, Vermont $2,300, 

 Massachusetts $10,000, Connecticut $2,000, New York $100,000, New Jersey 

 $15,000, Pennsylvania $50,000, Maryland $1,500, Michigan $10,000, Wisconsin 

 $35,000, Minnesota $75,000, Idaho $12,000, Washington $38,000, and Oregon 

 $30,000. 



