FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 27 



Forest Pires in l^oo. 



The fires in the Adirondack .region did little damage, comparatively, this year; 

 but in the Catskill district, owing to the dry season there, fires were numerous and, 

 in some instances, quite destructive. In 1899 there were no fires in the Catskills, 

 while in the Adirondacks they occurred to a remarkable extent. This year the con- 

 ditions were reversed, the Catskill woodlands suffering to a considerable degree 

 while the Adirondack fires were few and did little damage. No fires were reported 

 this year from Herkimer or Oneida county ; and one only, of small extent, occurred 

 in Hamilton county. 



The total area burned over, as compiled from the reports of the firewardens, 

 amounted to 14,893 acres ; and the value of the standing timber destroyed, as esti- 

 mated by the firewardens, aggregated $12,499. ^^ seems proper to mention here 

 that there was an evident tendency on the part of these officials to overestimate 

 both the area and the damage. In addition to the loss of standing timber the reports 

 state that logs, bark and cordwood were consumed which were valued in all at 

 $2,072 ; also a loss in buildings and fences amounting to $1,843. 



A careful synopsis of the reports shows, also, that the number of days worked 

 by the men who were ordered out to fight fire aggregated 3,101 days, representing 

 an expenditure by the towns for wages of $6,300, one-half of which is payable by 

 the State. 



One man lost his life while fighting a forest fire in the Catskills — in Greene 

 county. He was surrounded by the fast traveling flames before he was aware of his 

 danger, and was burned to death. This is the second accident of this kind in the 

 Catskills since the Forest Commission was organized, an old man having been burned 

 to death about twelve years ago, while working at a forest fire near the Kaaterskill 

 Hotel. 



The damage to standing timber ($12,499) Tiay seem small as compared with the 

 acreage burned over. In explanation it should be said that most of the fires 

 reported occurred on waste lands, barren plains, berry patches, meadows, or on tracts 

 that had been burned over before, some of them repeatedly. It will be noticed also 

 from the detailed report which follows that few fires occurred in the main forest dis- 

 trict ; they were mostly in the farming towns adjoining the wilderness. Moreover, 

 the standing timber that was scorched or killed was not necessarily a loss, although 

 so reported ; for the owner would immediately cut it and sell it as cordwood, pulp- 

 wood or savvlogs. But the timber on the State land, however, cannot " be cut or 

 removed," even when it is dead and cumbering the ground. 



