no means absolute figures; 30 acres in 10,000 instead of 

 25 or 65 instead of 70 mav be fairer estimates of tolerable 

 burn. These standards are, however, indicative of the 

 general situation, regardless of what arbitrary values are 

 used as a starting point. 



Despite the size ot the losses and because of the great 

 low-value acreage, it may be concluded that protection on 

 the national forests, measured by the ratio of area burned- 

 over to area protected, is more nearly adequate (71/70) 

 and that the protective associations as a group have 

 farther to go (41/25) to come up to the same standard. 



The reader should be verv cautious about drawing in- 

 ferences from the preceding comparison. Just one thing 

 was measured — the extent to which the national forests 

 as a group and the protective associations as a group are 

 succeeding in keeping fire losses down to tolerable maxi- 

 mums arbitrarily assumed on the basis ot the values at 

 stake. The protection problems differ. As will be shown, 

 the Forest Service spends more money per acre in fire 

 control than do the associations. Which group is doing 

 the better job of fire protection and is receiving the most 

 per dollar expended is another matter. 



Costs of Fire Prevention and Control 



The progress which can be shown for 30 years ot organ- 

 ized effort has been realized at no small cost. Since the 

 national forests extend over the State line, it is impossible 

 to be precise concerning total expenditures. In 1938 the 

 total direct outlay for fire prevention and control in 

 northern Idaho was approximately 3500,000. In each 

 of two critical years, 1931 and 1934, the fire bills were 

 more than $1,000,000. 



In 1931 the cost of suppression only within the national 

 forest boundaries amounted to 13 cents per acre protected, 

 and in 1934, 17 cents per acre. For the 8-year period 

 1931-38 the average cost was 4.8 cents. To this highly 

 variable expenditure for fire suppression should be added 

 the relatively stable direct charges tor preparedness, such 

 as the cost of lookout men and fire-patrol men. These 

 expenditures have been increasing during the recent years 

 with the development of a more effective organization 

 (fig. 34). For the entire period 1931-38 they averaged 

 3.9 cents per acre per year. The average total direct 

 cost, then, for fire prevention and control on the northern 

 Idaho national forests was 8.7 cents per acre per year. 



The annual cost of forest protection by the cooperative 

 associations and the State in the same period was 5.7 cents 

 per acre. The annual cost of the Clearwater, Potlatch, 

 and Priest Lake Associations, which have made relatively 

 good protection records, was 7.8 cents per acre. 



To the extent that the number ot "million-dollar fire 

 years" can be reduced, the additional investment in pre- 

 paredness is thoroughly justified even without considering 

 timber losses. 



It should not be assumed that the protection costs are 

 evenly divided among the torest-land owners, for the 

 Idaho law does not require an owner residing within 1 

 mile of his forest land to pay protection charges. Also, 

 in recent years, the State has not taken advantage of its 

 legal right to assess the property owners in the State pro- 

 tection districts. The following tabulation contains a 

 Forest Service estimate ot the ratio of the paying acreage 

 to the gross acreage in the fire-protective associations and 

 districts in 1937; 



Percent 



Clearwater 78 



Potlatch 93 



Pend Oreille 49 



Priest Lake ' 97 



Tesemini (discontinued) 62 



Pine Creek 67 



State districts 



To some extent, the burden on State and private owners 

 is relieved by Federal aid under the provisions of the Clarke- 

 McNary Act. The average annual direct Federal con- 

 tribution to fire protection on private lands from 1935 to 

 1938, inclusive, was ?46,000, or 1.5 cents for every acre 

 given organized protection. The actual contribution, 

 however, has been greater than this, since C.C.C. assistance 

 has in these years been available for fire protection. 



Although estimates similar to this 8.7 cents per acre per 

 year ot so-called direct cost ot fire protection are sometimes 

 held up as a total measure ot the fire costs on the national 



DIRECT FIRE COSTS 



NflTIONRL PORESTS 



20 



15 



S 10 



\ 





/ 











\ 





/ 



\ 



PREF 

 ND SU 



ARED^ 

 PPRES 



JESS 

 SION 



\ 





/ 



\ 



J 





\ 









V, 



- 



/4^f 









>REPAf 



^EDNE 



5S 



1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 



Figure 34. — The direct cost oj fire protection within the national forests \ 



will vary from less than 5 cents an acre up to 20 cents, depending on . 



the severity oJ the year. 



34 



i 



