20 MISC. CIECULAR 4 7, U. S. DEPT. OF AGEICULTUEE 



and minimize the ever-present dangers that result from devastation 

 of momitain lands, but would also aid in the application of these 

 principles on adjoining national-forest lands and appreciably sim- 

 plify many administrative problems. 



FIRE PREVENTION 



Especially urgent is the obligation resting on all national-forest 

 users to exercise every precaution that will safeguard all the re- 

 sources of the forest. This means, above all, being careful with fire. 

 Such care is imperative, because the match or cigarette that seems 

 to be out and the dead-looking camp fire sometimes start dangerous 

 fires that may n©t be noticed until they have gained considerable 

 headway. Of the average of 317 forest fires a year in the inter- 

 mountain region, half are the result of human carelessness. 



DANGERS OF BRUSH FIRES 



Brush fires are not the harmless things many people consider them. 

 Not only are they likely to extend to valuable timber, but they destroy 

 watershed cover and in many instances hundreds of little trees not j^et 

 visible above the brush. They also destroy the scenic charm of the 

 surroundings and form open spaces, which although small in extent 

 are sometimes sufficient, with thunderstorms bursting upon them, 

 to bring about disastrous floods in the small, steep canyons charac- 

 teristic of this region. 



CARE OF CAMP GROUNDS 



Campers are especially urged to refrain from leaving trash or tin 

 cans or anything that tends to deface the camp grounds or diminish 

 the beauty of the surroundings. Haclring trees indiscriminately to 

 obtain bed boughs should be avoided, as should also carving initials 

 on trees, and everything that renders the forest less attractive to the 

 next comer. As a matter of self-protection as well as out of con- 

 sideration for others, the insanitary practices often indulged in by 

 a thoughtless public should be discontinued. 



SUMMARY 



Though the prosperity of the intermountain region appears super- 

 ficially to belong entirely to the valleys, it is to a remarkable extent 

 derived from the forest-covered mountains. The development of 

 the fur trade, irrigated farming, the lumber industry, the greater 

 part of the livestock industry, the hydroelectric-power industry, and 

 public recreation — the activities which contribute most to the pros- 

 perity and happiness of the intermountain region — are traceable 

 directly to the wood, water, and forage supplied by the mountains; 

 and the continuance of these activities, as well as their further 

 development, necessitates the perpetuation of at least as much forest 

 cover as the mountains now have. 



Destroy this vegetation, and though the mountains continue to 

 stand there — bare masses of rock and earth — they will fail to perform 

 their mission of contributino: to the wealth of the recjion. 



