30 SECOND BIENNIAL EEPORT [W. VA. 



Outside of the money benefits derived from the license system, there are many 

 other features that should commend it. It raises the standard of hunting, 

 precludes boys too young to handle a gun and keeps them in school, identifies 

 the hunter to the farmer, makes it possible for the officer to determine between 

 the resident and the non-residen^ hunter, and aids in many ways in enforcing 

 the law. 



To make the enforcement of the law a success and build up the game and 

 fish industry, the resident hunter's license should be again established, and 

 after paying the expenses of conducting the department, the remainder of the 

 fund should be used to restock with game and fish. 



Foresi Fires. 



No organized effort had ever been attempted in this State to control the 

 forest fires until the enactment of the law of 1909, and while the system is 

 yet imperfect, the money that has been saved in forest products in the past 

 four years is astonishing. 



Data collected on forest fires by the United States Forest Service for the 

 year of 1908 was alarming in the extreme, and to avert some of this destruc- 

 tion the law of 1909 was enacted. The following is taken from the Govern- 

 ment report of 1908 : 



"The first serious fire occurred August 28th, and from that 

 time there was no cessation for three months. Every county in 

 the state was visited by fire, but i'n some instances only a few 

 acres' burned. The total number of fires reported was 710; the 

 number of men called out to fight was 5,821 ; the cost to the 

 County treasuries, so far as reported, was $646; the expense in- 

 curred in fighting fire by individuals and companies was $89,100; 

 the area burned was 1,703,850 acres, the standing timber burned 

 was 943,515,000 feet, board measure, worth $2,903,500. The 

 lumber, tan-bark, and improvements burned were valued at 

 $490,175; the injury to undergrowth and soil was placed at 

 $1,703,850, and the loss from forest fires in the state made the 

 grand total of $5,097,825. More than one-tenth of the whole 

 surface cff the state was burned over, and one-fifth of the forest 

 area. Three per cent of the estimated standing timber in West 

 Virginia was destroyed, including the small as well as the large ; 

 and the amount burned was two-thirds as much as the cut of all 

 the mills in the state in 1907." 



The total number of fires which occurred during the years 1909 and 1910 

 was 293; number of acres burned over 182,730; value of timber and forest 

 products destroyed $150,927.19; amount expended in extinguishing fires 

 $4,983.28. 



Total number of fires in the years 1911 and 1912 was 113; number of 

 acres burned over 65,156; amount of timber and forest products destroyed 

 $64,547.49; amount expended in extinguishing same $2,290.02. 



Thus it will be seen that for the entire four years we had a total of 406 



