52 FIRE DISTRICTS. 



California forests. A long period of survival of the most hardy trees 

 to drought, or the most favorably situated individuals, might produce 

 the same final results of an opsn forest that the known Ind.ans' regular 

 firing of the forests did in certain valleys, like the Yosemite. The 

 best demonstrated effects of regular forest fires by Indians are in the 

 Sierra Nevada valleys, where the oaks grow producing the favorite 

 acorns of the Indians. Of these the Yosemite is an illustration of 

 what happens when the firing is stopped, and the Hetch-Hetchy of what 

 happens when it is not. The fire means shrinkage of the forest area, 

 with probable final forest extermination. We cannot, therefore, join 

 with some of the old mountaineers of observant qualities in the 

 opinion that a forest firing by sections to secure, within, say, six years, 

 the burning over of the entire area, would be a proper forest policy 

 for the Sierra Nevada. Besides the general objection to this so-called 

 Indian system, there is the e.fpense and damage that would inevitably 

 accompany it. Private interests, mines, ranches, lumber mills, indi- 

 vidual holdings, fences, resorts, and even towns, are scattered through 

 the forest districts. These interests are now so general and so much 

 threatened by forest fires that any large forest fire is sure to secure 

 a body of local volunteers to confine or extinguish it. Should the 

 government set such fires it would be responsible for any damage that 

 might be done. There are, however, belts of forest, and especially 

 places on ridges and spurs, that could be safely burned over in the 

 late fall, and after the first rains, without local damage or danger of 

 the fire's escape. Such burned-over districts or ridges would constitute 

 fire breaks. Without recommending definitively such a system for the 

 Sierra Nevada, I am inclined to the opinion that along judiciously laid 

 lines, with a view to the use of the natural topography, fire breaks 

 can best be made by fire. The accumulation of dead wood, windfalls, 

 etc., together with the increase of undergrowth now noticeable in the 

 Sierra Nevada forests, demand fire breaks as a part of any effective 

 forest system. The only other way to obtain these is by hand clearing 

 of the inflammable matter along the lines selected. Even then the 

 piles of waste could not be practically disposed of without fires. The 

 cost would be far greater by hand clearing. The cost of any forest 

 system proposed must not be lost sight of. The cost is one of the 

 main questions. It must be reasonable, and should give fair prospect 

 of being met by the forest receipts. 



A lesume of the points just discussed gives us the following 

 positions: 



