FIFTH NATI0NAI< CONSERVATION CONGRFSS 47 



in 12 years. In this thickly settled region the causes of fires are numerous and 

 the number of fires large. Protection of planted as well as natural forest lies, 

 primarily, in the hands of the State and Federal Government, and must be assured 

 to the people in each State where the danger exists. Adequate fire protection is 

 sure to come if extensive planting is done. 



Measures of prevention rest not alone, however, with the State, but must 

 be supplemented by the efforts of individuals and of corporations who undertake 

 planting. Local protection by fire lines and by other means has proven adequate 

 to protect planted forest adjoining railroads and which was open to danger from 

 other causes of fires. A decade of educational work and organized fire preven- 

 tion has removed, to a large degree, this objection or stumbling block to the 

 planting of forests. 



The danger of losses due to insects, fungi and other injurious agencies does 

 not necessarily render an investment in planting tmsafe. Careful judgment in 

 the selection of species and mixtures, as well as subsequent economic measures 

 for preventing losses or reducing the damage, are reasonable safeguards in this 

 respect. 



So far as taxation is concerned, there is steady progress in legislation to do 

 away with injustice arising from repeated taxation of the forest crop. Taxation 

 of the land alone annually at a low valuation and a tax on the crop when cut 

 seems to be the plan most favored. It is reasonable to expect that future planted 

 forests will not be unreasonably burdened with taxes. Laws granting exemption 

 from taxation on planted lands for longer or shorter periods have entirely failed 

 to stimulate reforestation. 



Regional Conditions. 



If planting is to have a sound commercial basis, both regional and local 

 conditions require careful consideration. A study of regional factors may 

 determine at the outset the advisability or inadvisability of planting. 



Climatic factors, temperature and rainfall, determine broadly the possible 

 species in natural forest regions from which selection may be made for reforesta- 

 tion. A consideration of temperature may be sufficient to eliminate consideration 

 of a given species, as, for example, eucalyptus in regions whose minimum 

 temperature falls below 25° to 30° Fahr., or, catalpa, which is often recom- 

 mended for commercial planting, in regions where it is subject to frost injury. 

 In the extension of a species to the extreme limit of its possible planting range 

 the shorter growing season may so reduce its average yield or conditions may 

 so affect its form as to make it unprofitable for planting. 



Topography and soil are the important factors which determine forest types, 

 hence, in forest regions these factors must be considered in deciding the prac- 

 ticability of forest planting and in the preparation of plans for commercial 

 reforestation of waste or denuded lands. A safe basis for decision is assured 

 if areas are mapped and the physical types of land located with reasonable 

 accuracy. Full notes of local conditions are needed upon which the determination 

 of suitable species may rest. Important details of site are included under slope, 



