Conservation Commission 175 



woods concerning the danger of forest fires ; they have posted fire 

 notices, giving the provisions of the law, and they have looked 

 after the enforcement of that section of the law which provides 

 for the restriction of the setting of fires to clear land or burn 

 brush. 



COOPERATION 



One phase of protecting forests from fire which looms large in 

 any consideration of the question is the necessity for cooperation 

 by the different interests concerned with such protection. In 

 order to be economical and efficient, a protective system should 

 apply over a larger area than is usually controlled by one interest. 

 Besides this, the peculiar nature of forest fires requires coordina- 

 tion of effort by all persons interested. To avoid dangerous con- 

 sequences, a forest fire should be attacked when it first springs up. 

 If a man sees a fire start on his neighbor's land and waits until it 

 reaches his own property before fighting it, he may find that it 

 has gotten beyond control by that time. 



Proper appreciation of the value of cooperation is the cause of 

 the rapid and successful development of the various forest fire 

 protective associations which have been formed in the United 

 States within recent years. This movement has attracted many 

 lumbermen and timberland owners in the West, and it is only a 

 question of a few years before it will advance to this State. Even 

 now, we have a certain degree of cooperation. The States cooper- 

 ates with the towns ; the lumbermen of the forest regions cooperate 

 with the State by granting free sites for observation stations and 

 timber with which to build cabins and towers, by allowing free 

 use of telephone lines, by furnishing crews of woodsmen to aid 

 in fighting fires, etc. 



Cooperation Under the Weeks Law 

 Under the provisions of the Weeks Law, which was passed by 

 Congress in 1911, a certain sum of money was appropriated for 

 the use of the United States Forest Service in buying up lands 

 to establish National Forests on the headwaters of navigable 

 streams in the eastern part of the country and in cooperating with 

 the forestry departments of the states in establishing protection 



