34 BULLETIISr 4:26_, U. S, DEPAETMEXT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



PROTECTION. 



No scheme of management should be undertaken or can be success- 

 fully carried out unless the area involved is adequately protected 

 from destructive influences. Fire, insects, and disease are the most 

 active agents of tree destruction. Of these, fire is the most important, 

 because it not only kills all young growth and injures or kills mature 

 trees, but also depletes the soil by consuming the humus, and destroys 

 other forms of property as well as life. Within the National Forests 

 of California during 1914, 1,304 fires occurred, causing an estimated 

 loss of about $77,000. 



Virgin stands in which no cutting is being done should be protected 

 by eliminating the causes of fire as much as possible by the use of 

 suitable warning signs and other regulation and by a systematic 

 patrol for the detection of fires. The efficiency of any patrol is con- 

 siderably increased by instalUng telephone lines and by a good sys- 

 tem of roads and trails constructed, wherever possible, so as to act 

 as firebreaks. Under such conditions one patrolman, at a salary of 

 $300 for himself and horse for the danger season of four months, 

 should take care of from 25,000 to 30,000 acres. An adequate patrol 

 system should not cost over 2 cents per acre per annum. 



Fire risk naturally increases when lumbering operations start, be- 

 cause of the presence of engines and men as well as slash. Precau- 

 tions are therefore particularly necessary. The most effective pre- 

 caution is the disposal of slash by burning. On National Forest sale 

 areas in Cahfornia all slash is piled at once in tepee-shaped piles and 

 burned at a favorable season. This operation costs from 20 to 30 

 cents per 1,000 feet board measure. 



All engines used in connection with logging should, when possible, 

 burn oil. If this is not feasible, they should be equipped with ade- 

 quate spark arresters and with hose and water under pressure for put- 

 ting out fires which start in their vicinity. Supplies of shovels and axes 

 should be readily available at convenient points about the operation. 



The importance of the control of insects and tree diseases is only 

 secondary to the control of fire in managed forests.- 



PLANTING. 



On treeless areas, or where natural reproduction can not be secured 

 by leaving seed trees, planting must be undertaken. Thus far, in 

 California, National Forest tree planting has been confined principally 

 to treeless areas which once undoubtedly bore forests. The brush 

 fields common in northern California are representative of this type 

 of land. On pine lands where practically all of the trees are mature 

 it may be found after plantmg methods have been perfected and 

 cheapened that it is more profitable to cut all of the timber and 

 plant, but at the present time tliis is not considered feasible. 



