40 FIRST BIENNIAL REPORT [W. VA. 



hand and protect our great forests from lire, and see that in other ways, 

 they are not destroyed. Protection against fire is a public necessity, 

 and should not be left to the care of private individuals. Few states 

 In the whole Union, has so much to gain by protecting; their forests, as 

 West Virginia, and few states have done so little in this direction as we 

 have. 



The State of West Virginia has less than 25,000 square miles, and 

 18,000 square miles? of this is forest. This includes, howiever, cut over 

 and burned over tracts, many of them having but little value at the 

 present time; and some of them having been burned over so many 

 times, that they are ruined for all time. 



To the thoughtless individual, a law looking toward the protection 

 and conservation of the forests of West Virginia, might seem foolish 

 at this time, but to the close observer, or the one that has made these 

 matters a study, it is conceded to be one of the greatest problems that 

 confronts us. 



The white pine, ^vhich a few years ago extended in a broad belt 

 across the State, following the parallel ridge of the Allegheny range, 

 is almost a thing of the past, and the hemlock and spruce are now 

 going the way of the white pnie. One has but to witness the tracts that 

 are now being cut in West Virginia, especially the ones where pulpf 

 wood has been taken off, to grow sick at heart, to see the once beautiful 

 forest areas, which afforded a scenery that is not equaled by even far- 

 famed Switzerland, stripped of every living particle of timber, and left 

 unprotected and unguarded from the forest fires, that year after year, 

 burns over these tracts until they are Completely ruined for all future 

 time. 



The situation is not yet hopeless, but to say the least, is discourag- 

 ing, and the time is here when some forest policy should be put into 

 effect, and something (?one to save the valuable assets, if it is ever' 

 done; a few more years, it will be forever too late. 



Until after the passage of the law in 1909, no effort had ever been 

 made, by the State, to even protect our forests from fires, and while) 

 this law may not be, and is not far enough reaching, yet much has been 

 accomplished by an organized effort, to control and extinguish forest 

 fires. 



Data collected by the United States Government, for, the year 1908, 

 shows that we had, during that year, 710 forest fires, burning over' 

 1,703,850 acres of timber land, doling damage to forest products of our 

 State, to tne amount of $2, 90? ,850; while in the year 1909, we only 

 had 70 forest fires, burning ever 94,322 acres, with an aggregate dam- 

 age of $107,053.10, making a difference of damage for the two years, 

 of $2,796,458.50; and during the year 1910, the number of forest fires 

 numbered 223, burning over 90,407 acres, damaging forest products 

 to the amount of $43,874.09, and costing the sum of $3,677.52 to ex- 

 tinguish them. 



"A stitch in time saves nine" is true perhaps, to a greater extent, in 



