Conservation Commission 141 



7. If you have found ideal conditions for burning in the morn- 

 ing, but, as the sun gets higher, conditions are too dry for safe 

 burning, do not continue the work; wait until rain conies, or do 

 the work in the evening when there is less likelihood of the fire 

 getting beyond your control. 



Campers 



The number of forest fires which result from the carelessness, 

 and it is only fair to call it, the criminal negligence of persons who 

 use the woods for recreation, is appalling. It is such an easy mat- 

 ter to exercise proper caution in building camp fires and extin- 

 guishing them after they are no longer needed, that it is incon- 

 ceivable why so many people fail to take suitable precautions. 

 Section 100 of the present Conservation Law provides that " Every 

 person who starts a camp - or other fire upon, or in the vicinity 

 of, forest or woodland, for cooking, obtaining warmth or any indus- 

 trial purpose, shall, before lighting the same, clear the ground of 

 all branches, brushwood, dry leaves or other combustible material 

 within a radius of ten feet from the fire, and shall carefully extin- 

 guish the fire before quitting the place. 



"Any person violating any of the provisions of this section shall 

 be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less 

 than ten or more than twenty-five dollars and costs of prosecution, 

 or by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than ninety 

 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment." 



Fire notices are posted at frequent intervals along the roads and 

 trails principally used by campers in the forest preserve regions 

 of the State. These notices contain cautions concerning the care 

 of camp fires. In spite of this fact, every spring hundreds of 

 fishermen, who use the woods, build small fires either for insect 

 smudges, for warmth, or for cooking purposes, and go way and 

 leave those fires without properly extinguishing them. It seems 

 as if these people did not take account of the fact that they might 

 wish to fish in the same place the following year, and that if the 

 forest was burned over, the streams would dry up, the fish would 

 soon disappear, and the place would lose all its attractive features. 

 In the fall the hunters visit the woods and they, too, are decidedly 

 careless with their fires. The danger from this source is enhanced 



