Canadian Forestry Journal, May, Ipl6. 



537 



Benefits of Organization in Forest 



^ Protection ^^^^^^ 



Northern Protective Association Suffered Small Losses in 98 Fires 



— The use of Modern Publxity. 



The failure of recent efforts to 

 bring together those interested in a 

 mutual forest protective association 

 in the Upper Ottawa region, can be 

 regarded as merely a temporary 

 shelving of a plan that the near fu- 

 ture will see realized. Reports just 

 received regarding the past season's 

 success of the Northern Forest Pro- 

 tective Association of Michigan 

 prove once more the potency of or- 

 ganization and skill in limiting the 

 damage done by forest fires. The 

 American association works o n 

 much the same lines as the Lower 

 Ottawa and St. Maurice associations 

 of Quebec which have been doing 

 excellent work on an area equal to 

 one-third of the total forest area of 

 the province. 



"The fifth annual meeting of the 

 Northern Forest Protective Asso- 

 ciation was held at Marcjuette. 

 Mich., on Tuesday, the 7th of March. 



The Protective Association has 

 become fully established in the Up- 

 per Peninsula and its work for the 

 past five years has become widely 

 known through its success in limit- 

 ing the forest fire menace. 



Ninety-eight Fires Per Year. 



The records of the Association for 

 the past year ending March 1st, 

 1916. show a total of 98 fires, cover- 

 ing an acreage of 13,090, with a loss 

 of $8,746.30. 



In addition to the fires reported, 

 there were a number of incipient 

 fires on unlisted lands which the 

 wardens put out without making a 



detailed report thereof; fires which 

 caused no damage whatsoever. 



The causes of the fires were as- 

 follows : 



Settlers, including one con- 

 tractor clearing land for 



settler 19 20% 



Locomotives 19 20% 



Steam loaders 1 1%, 



Campers 5 5%. 



Unclassified — thought to be 



settlers 4 A%- 



Fishermen 4 4%. 



Pedestrians 3 2>%. 



Road crews 2 2% 



Wood choppers 1 \% 



Farmers 3 3% 



Logging employees 1 1%. 



Sugar makers 1 1%. 



Smokers 2 2%. 



Stove pipe 1 1% 



Tramps 1 1%. 



Sportsmen 1 1% 



Unknown 30 30% 



From which it will be noted that 

 the percentage of unknown causes, 

 retains its position at approximately 

 30 per cent., while fires originating 

 from settlers clearing land and from 

 locomotives balance each other at 

 approximately 20 per cent. 



There is a constant decrease in 

 the number of fires traceable to 

 campers, fishermen, sportsmen and 

 other woods travelers, which is con- 

 clusive proof of the fact that the 

 publicity campaign, which has been 

 the key-note of the Association 

 since its inception, has borne fruit. 

 It is proof also that greater efforts, 

 must be made to reduce the number 



