386 REPORT OF THE FORESTRY COMMITTEE 



AEIZONA 



THE forest fire problem in Arizona is largely a Government one, the 

 timbered area being for the most part within the boundaries of National 

 Forests. To protect Government lands, as in other States, the Forest 

 Service maintains a well organized force of rangers and has built many hundreds 

 of miles of trails and telephone line, to assist in the work. 



No action has been taken by the State or by the few large timber owners to 

 keep fire out of their holdings. The Arizona Land Commission has, however, 

 under consideration a co-operative agreement with the Forest Service covering 

 the management of State land within the Coconino National Forest. 



That forest fires are destructive in the State is evident from the fact that 

 records of the past five years show an average of about 25,000 acres burned 

 over yearly. 



State laws are urgently needed which will make the public using the forested 

 areas for pleasure or business purposes more careful, and require the few large 

 land owners to either independently or through co-operation with the Forest 

 Service protect their property. 



CAIIFORNIA 



The Forest Fire Situation 



OUTSIDE of the National Forests, on which the Government maintains 

 a protective organization, the forest fire situation remains practically 

 the same as it was in 1905. This has been pointed out year after year 

 by the Federal and State forest authorities. 



The National Forests in California, aggregating approximately 38,000,000 

 acres of public and private land and containing perhaps one-third of the mer- 

 chantable forest area of the State, are under a highly organized fire protection 

 system which costs the Government from $136,000 to $350,000 a year to main- 

 tain — depending on the severity of the season. This system is in_a fair way 

 to reduce fire loss to a reasonable minimum. 



What Has Been Done 



A few progressive citizens early recognized both the imperative need and 

 the possibility of fire control by organized effort. In a memorial to Congress, 

 dated 1889, three of San Francisco's leading citizens said: 



"If a tithe of the money and energy applied to the abatement of the 

 lesser ill (prosecution of timber thieves) had been brought to bear on the 

 suppression of the greater one, the evil (forest fires) of which we now com- 

 plain would not have grown to such enormous and appalling proportions." 



The citizens of Southern California, where the paramount industry — fruit 

 growing — is absolutely dependent on a supply of water for irrigation during the 

 summer season, have long recognized the vital connection between their material 

 prosperity and the maintenance of the cover on their comparatively limited 

 watersheds. Through propaganda issued by the U. S. Forest Service and the 



