American Forestry Association 



357 



timber-stealing as a crime. The reason 

 was that the government's ownership of 

 its forest lands was not based on labor 

 and care expended on them, but merely 

 appeared to withhold from the citizens 

 that which nature had freely given to 

 all. The remedy was to bring the pub- 

 lic forests under forestal management. 

 When the money of the tax-payers was 

 expended on their protection and im- 

 provement public sentiment would no 



longer countenance timber - stealing. 

 Forestal management implied a force of 

 men on the land to protect it. Among 

 the practical measures advocated were 

 a proper demarcation of the boundaries 

 of forest reserves, their consolidation by 

 acquiring title to private holdings within 

 their limits, and the rapid disposal of all 

 state lands to actual settlers, except 

 those to be held permanently as forest 

 reserves. 



THE FIRE PROBLEM, AND HOW TO SOLVE IT 



BY H B. AYRES, 



U. S. BUREAU OF FORESTRY 



At the outset Mr Ayres insisted that 

 fire protection in Michigan depends 

 upon Michigan people. The variety of 

 forest conditions in the state, as influ- 

 enced by the Great Lakes on the one side 

 and the Great Plains on the other, was 

 noticed, and the constant danger of dis- 

 astrous fires pointed out, together with 

 its unfavorable effect on timber-land 

 values. Methods of providing against 

 fires were discussed, and the experience 

 of Minnesota, under conditions some- 



what similar to those in Michigan, was 

 outlined. An awakened public senti- 

 ment, with a constant pressure for the 

 enforcement of legally established meas- 

 ures of defense, is necessary. Mr Ayres 

 summed up the duty of the community 

 at large in a few words : ' ' Let local 

 societies be formed in every community, 

 and let the subject be kept alive, studied, 

 discussed, agitated. Get the people to 

 act earnestly, systematically, persist- 

 ently, and the fires will be stopped." 



MINNESOTA'S SYSTEM OF PREVENTING FOREST FIRES 

 BY GEN. C. C. ANDREWS," 



CHIEF FOREST FIRE WARDEN OF MINNESOTA 



General Andrews, who is now serv- 

 ing his eighth year as Chief Forest Fire 

 Warden of Minnesota, described the 

 system in force in that state against 

 forest fires, which is mainly one of pre- 

 vention. Town supervisors are made 

 fire wardens, who can summon males 

 upward of eighteen years of age to help 

 extinguish fires. A central officer en- 

 forces the law. County commissioners 

 award the pay for local service, the 



state contributing one-third. Some 

 counties are backward in paying, and 

 uncertainty of pay is the weakness of 

 the system. It would be more effective 

 were the state to pay two-thirds and 

 counties one-third. In General An- 

 drews' opinion a great forest fire can- 

 not be extinguished by human power, 

 but can be prevented. The Minnesota 

 system has helped to educate the public 

 to better care of the forests. 



