142 SURVEYS OF FOREST RESERVES. 



RELATION OF FIRES TO SHEKP GRAZIXG. 



It is of primary importance in this investigation tbat an unbiased 

 opinion should be given on the relation borne by sheep herders to forest 

 fires. It has been alleged that sheep herders systematically set lire to 

 the forest in order to burn off the timber, so that a growth of weeds 

 and grass will spring up to furnish grazing in succeeding years. On 

 the other .hand, the publication of this statement within the past year 

 in Oregon newspapers has brought forth most positive denials by 

 stockmen that this practice exists. This phase of the subject was a 

 matter of special inquiry. We asked again and again of all classes of 

 people about this matter, and whenever a man informed us that such a 

 practice existed we endeavored to find out the place, the time, and all 

 other detailed circumstances of the cases with which be was familiar. 

 It was always difficult, when we came down to such details, to secure 

 anything more than inconclusive circumstantial evidence. From the 

 people who were antagonistic to sheep grazing in the Cascades we 

 would have been able to learn of very few cases positively attributable 

 to this cause. With the sheepmen themselves, however, we talked 

 very frankly, and as a result of these conversations I may say, without 

 betraying any confidences and without citing individual cases, that it 

 is undoubtedly true that in the early days of sheep grazing in the Cas- 

 cades there was a widespread belief among the sheepmen that burning 

 off the forest was of positive importance to the sheep-grazing industry, 

 and that many herders undoubtedly did systematically burn off areas 

 in the forest either where the density of the forest had prevented the 

 growth of suitable grazing plants, or where they had already grazed 

 and were about to remove to another camp, or when they were leaving 

 the forest at the end of the season. How general this practice was it 

 is impossible to say. Many of the sheep herders and packers deny 

 ever having set fires themselves, or ever having known of a fire being 

 set by others. I have no doubt that in many cases sucli claims are 

 correct. 



It is clear that at the present time most sheep herders and packers 

 are extremely careful not to allow their camp fires to spread and not to 

 set fires intentionally. This I attribute to various causes. In the first 

 place, the increase in the West of a knowledge of the importance of 

 protecting our timber resources has been very marked, and rarely does 

 one find a man who is not ready to say that in his opinion the Western 

 forests should be preserved from fire.- Governor Lord has urged upon 

 the State legislature the importance of preserving the forests within 

 the State. The following quotation is from his biennial message as 

 published in the Portland Oregonian for March 31, 1897 : 



The frequent destruction of onr forests by fires, caused by carelessness or design, 

 should be stopped. Their preservation is a matter of great importance, and if some- 

 thing is not done to prevent it, great injury will result to our timber interests. This 

 is a subject that demands your attention, and some means must be devised for better 

 enforcement of our laws. 



The State of Oregon has passed a stringent fire law, the United 

 States Government has i)assed a still more stringent fire law, ' and 

 although no criminal convictions have as yet been made under these 

 acts, a knowledge that they would be made on sufficient evidence has 

 been a strong factor in preventing fires from being set openly. Some 

 notices of these laws have been posted at camping places through the 



1 For the full text of these laws, see pages 144 and 145. 



