What the NATIONAL FORESTS Mean to the WATER USER 37 



before they attain any considerable headway. Various means are used to 

 bring home to the general public the seriousness of the fire danger and to 

 secure the cooperation both of local residents and transient visitors. 

 Lookout stations are established on mountain tops and at other points of 

 vantage for the prompt detection of fires. These are supplemented by 

 riding patrols. Boxes of fire-fighting tools are placed at strategic points. 

 Roads, trails, and telephone lines are built as means of quick communi- 

 cation. Extra men to serve as fire guards are appointed during the danger 

 season, and the local community is so organized as to make an efficient 

 fire-fighting force available on short notice. 



The system has now reached a stage of efficiency where the majority 

 of fires are brought under control before they do any serious damage. 

 In 1916, for example, 73 per cent of the 5,655 fires on the National Forests 

 were extinguished before they had burned over 10 acres, and only 4.4 per 

 cent caused a damage of more than $100. The chief opportunities for 

 further progress lie in reducing the number of fires that occur, and in this 

 work every citizen can help. The water user in particular should be among 

 the very first to cooperate in keeping down fires. His prosperity is inti- 

 mately bound up with their suppression. 



Necessary precautions are likewise taken to keep in check insects and 

 diseases which would endanger the forest cover on watersheds in the 

 National Forests. 



When the boundaries of the National Forests were first drawn it was 



inevitable that occasional areas of land more suitable for farming than for 



timber production or watershed protection should have 



been included. To make certain that all of the lands ni , r 



Llassification 



within the National Forests will be put to their best use 

 thorough surveys were made by experts, as a result of which the lands 

 have been classified according to their primary value for timber production, 

 watershed protection, agriculture, and the like. 



In making this classification, one fundamental principle was followed, 

 namely, that land chiefly valuable for the prevention of erosion or the regu- 

 lation of stream flow should be retained in the National Forests and adminis- 

 tered primarily for these purposes. Such other lands as appear to be more 

 valuable for crop production have either been eliminated altogether from 

 the National Forests or else opened to entry under the Forest Homestead 



