OUR FORESTS 



23 



32 million a year. The visitors include resiclents, who have estab- 

 lished summer homes on the forests, hotel and resort guests, campers, 

 picnickers, and transient motorists- For the convenience of visitors 

 the Forest Service has established more than 5,500 public camp- 

 grounds in the national forests. Some large cities, notably Los An- 

 geles, Oakland, Berkeley, and San Francisco, have built permanent 

 municipal camps on 

 nearby forests where 

 their citizens for a 

 nominal sum may find 

 rest and recreation. 



All that is asked of 

 visitors is that they 

 bring to the forest the 

 care and thoughtful- 

 ness they give to their 

 own homes; that in 

 seeking recreation in 

 the forests, whether 

 national, State, or pri- 

 vate, they be careful 

 not to abuse the hos- 

 pitality of the woods. 



ENEMIES OF THE 

 FOREST 



Fire — The Arch 

 Destróyer 



Although the forest 

 is prey to many foes, 

 its greatest single 

 enemy is fire. 



A yearly average of 

 190,942 fires, burning 

 over more than 34,- 

 000,000 acres, has oc- 

 curred in the United 

 States during the last 

 few years. About 

 seven-eighths of these 



fires were caused by human carelessness, or indiíference, through such 

 agencies as campers, smokers, debris burners, and railroads. Many 

 of these fires have been of incendiary origin. Only too common in 

 this country are great fires which sweep over the forest consuming 

 the largest trees, killing game and other wildlife, destroying human 

 habitations and sometimes taking a high toll in human life. Such a 

 fire is likely to result when high winds whip the flames into the 

 tree tops. 



Not all fires are of this crown type, however. Frequently fires burn 

 over the surf ace of the ground but do not reach the treetops. Such 

 fires may leave the big trees living, and for this reason some persons 

 have thought them not worth worrying about. But these fires that 



Figure 14. — The Red enemy at its worst. 

 A crown fire destroys everything in its path. 



