AN AUSTRALIAN STUDY OF AMERICAN FORESTRY. 5D 
In 1910—a bad fire year—the cost of fighting fires on the Naticnal 
Forests was £160,000. In 1915 the cost was £13,800. 
A comprehensive and effective fire plan has been developed for the protec- 
tion of the 164,000,006 acres of the National Forests, according to the follow- 
ing standards, which have been more or less generally attained in practice: 
(1.) The maximum area burnt over shall not exceed .001 of total 
area. 
(2.) 90 per cent. of all fires must be restricted within a 10-acre area. 
(3.) Of the remaining 10 per cent., the average fire area shall not 
exceed 100 acres. 
Prevention is ever better than cure; the administrators felt that no 
udministration could be successful which had not the public with it, and they- 
aimed to develop in the general public the attitude towards a burning forest 
that every man has towards a burning house. 
The public was apathetic. It had to be awakened. Publicity was the 
solution, and it was applied with vigour. A systematic campaign was under- 
taken by the Forest Service in conjunction with forestry associations. 
Straight-out advertising methods were adopted. Signs and posters, books and 
notices, issuance of forest fire news for publication, education in the schools, 
personal appeals, lectures and moving picture shows—these were some of the 
publicity agencies employed. 
The Forest Service placarded its domains with official warnings, placed at 
gates, camps, and watering places where those who do not run might read at 
leisure and fully digest. Its officers were required to devote a considerable 
part of their time to making friends with the forest user and securing his 
interest and co-operation. 
A typical Forest Service notice is the following :— 
PREVENT 
FOREST FIRES. 
Start camp fires only in safe places and extinguish them 
completely before leaving. 
Put out any fire discovered or report it to the nearest 
Forest Officer. The Laws provide heavy penalties for wilful 
or careless setting of Forest Fires. 
A REWARD will be paid for information leading to 
conviction of offenders, 
By far the most effective work was done by forest associations in “ knock- 
out” advertising. 
Just where a forest fire had been extinguished, at the intersection of cool 
green foliage and a blackened waste, on a roadside, I saw the convincing 
sign :— 
DO YOU WANT THE FOREST LIKE THIS— 
OR THAT? 
THEN PUT OUT YOUR CAMP FIRE ! 
