WORK OF THE UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE 



19 



During the period 1934-36, an annual average of more than 

 144,000 acres in the national forests were reforested. In terms of 

 trees, this represents a total planting over the 3-year period of more 

 than 400 million trees. 



PROTECTION OF NATIONAL FORESTS 



Fire is an ever-present danger on the national forests. The great 

 size of the forests compared with the size of the patrolling force, 

 difficulty of reaching remote areas across miles of wilderness, dry 

 air, and light rainfall in parts of the West, prevalence of lightning 

 in the mountains, and constant use of fire in the daily lives of 



Figure 14. 



-Crew constructing buttress for bridge across Elder Creek in tbe Fremont 

 National Forest, Oreg. 



people and in industries all combine to make the fire hazard great. 

 Visitors also contribute to the danger. Sometimes the Forest Service 

 has to fight 10,000 or more fires within national-forest boundaries in 

 a single year. 



Among the chief causes of fire on national forests are lightning, 

 smokers, incendiarism, campers, debris burning, lumbering opera- 

 tions, and railroads. Sixty-three percent of forest fires within the 

 national forests are man-caused. 



Even a small fire may spread into a conflagration. Care with fire, 

 matches, and burning tobacco is the first rule observed by every 

 good woodsman. Fires may start in a remote locality and reach 

 vast proportions before a party of fire fighters can get to the scene, 

 no matter how promptly the start is made. Under particularly dry 

 weather conditions, the forests may be said to be almost explosively 

 inflammable. Because of this, the Forest Service lays tremendous 

 stress upon forest-fire prevention. It is much cheaper to prevent 

 fires than to fight them once they start. 



