ment, may include, however, any expenditures for protecting forested water- 

 sheds of navigable streams from fire. The State Forester or State officer 

 in charge selects the Federal patrolmen, instructs them in their duties and 

 supervises their work. These patrolmen are paid direct from Washington. 



As soon as the office of State Forester in Texas was created applica- 

 tion was made to the Federal Government for co-operation in fire protec- 

 tion under the terms of the Weeks Law. A formal agreement was arranged 

 making a Federal allottment of twenty-five hundred ($2500) dollars availa- 

 ble for the calendar year 1916, this amount representing the sum which the 

 State Forester was able to expend for fire protective work during the year 

 to offset Federal expenditures. Since the greater part of Texas is on the 

 watersheds of streams recognized as navigable by the Army Engineers no 

 difficulty was experienced in establishing a co-operative area. The area 

 selected for co-operative fire protection during the year 1916 consists of 

 30 eastern counties of the State on the watersheds of the Red, 'Sabine, 

 Neches, and Trinity rivers. These counties were selected in order to 

 establish a unit, approximately 13,000,000 acres, where southern yellow 

 pine prevails and within which forest fire protection is an important issue. 



On February 1, George W. Johnson of Tenaha, Shelby County, was 

 appointed an agent of the State Forester to devote his entire time to fire 

 protection work within the co-operative area and to supervise the work of 

 the Federal patrolmen. From February until September 1, Mr. Johnson 

 was engaged in a survey of forest conditions within the co-operative area 

 with particular reference to fire damage and prevention of fires and m 

 an examination of the forest resources of the region. 



On September 1, six Federal patrolmen were placed on duty with 

 headquarters at Lufkin, Livingston, Jasper, Longview, Tenaha and Linden. 

 Substitutions and additions will undoubtedly be made before the close 

 of the calendar year. Patrolmen were selected who are interested in fire 

 protective work, who have intimate knowledge of the country and a high 

 standing as citizens in their respective communities. Each patrolman 

 was given a radius of about 25 miles surrounding his headquarters, or 

 1,256,640 acres, to patrol on horseback. His instructions require him to 

 ride from 15 to 25 miles each day and to meet all citizens and residents, 

 acquainting them with the importance of preventing fires and urging them 

 to co-operate with the State* and Federal Government to this end. Each 

 patrolman is supplied with fire notices to post in conspicuous places and 

 with literature to distribute relative to fires and the damage done by them. 

 He is also required to extinguish small fires and to secure the aid of nearby 

 residents to help extinguish others. The patrolmen are conscientious :n 

 the discharge of their duties and their daily reports show that the work 

 is meeting with approval throughout their districts. The Agent of the 

 State Forester visits each patrolman at frequent intervals. 



The patrol work as here outlined will be continued until December 31, 

 when the allotment made by the Federal Government will be exhausted. 

 A new allotment will be secured from the Government for the year 1917 

 the amount depending upon the State appropriations available for this work. 



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