its success. Public land other than Federal- 

 owned land is protected by the State foresters, and 

 private land by the owner either independently or 

 in association with other owners or by the State 

 foresters. Where there is a commingling of lands 

 differing in ownership, cooperative agreements 

 provide for division of the area and assumption 

 of responsibility for protection of each division by 

 a single agency. 



Both States have progressive forest-fire codes 

 requiring every owner of forest land to provide 

 protection therefor. If an owner fails to protect 

 his land, the State forester does so and the cost is 

 assessed against the property on the county tax 

 rolls. Both States have compulsory slash-dis- 

 posal laws. Oregon has a law enabling the Gov- 

 ernor to close forest areas to entry during critical 

 fire weather; an operator's permit law that gives 

 the State forester authority to shut down logging 

 operations during periods of high fire hazard; 

 and a law requiring snag falling. In Washington 

 hazardous areas may be closed or other restric- 

 tions applied thereon by the State Director of Con- 

 servation and Development, and the Supervisor of 

 Forestry is authorized to suspend logging, land 

 clearing, or other industrial operations during 

 periods of extreme fire hazard. 



The private timberland owner has the privilege 



of protecting his own holdings or of paying the 

 State to do it. In only a few instances have tim- 

 berland owners exercised this option and formed 

 protective associations. All private forest lands in 

 eastern Washington are protected by the State 

 forester. Eastern Oregon has three forest-fire 

 protective associations, the strongest being the 

 Klamath Forest Fire Association covering a large 

 acreage in Klamath and Lake Counties, and the 

 other two, the Walker Range and the Black 

 Butte, both comparatively small. The work of the 

 associations is inspected by representatives of the 

 State forester to see that adequate protection is 

 given. The State may contract with an association 

 for the protection of tax-roll land within the asso- 

 ciation's territory. 



The States receive fire-protection funds from 

 three sources; from private owners through county 

 tax rolls, through direct appropriation by their 

 legislatures, and from the Federal Government 

 under the Clarke-McNary Act. Federal contri- 

 butions have been of valuable assistance to the 

 development and maintenance of fire protection 

 on private lands, not only through the Clarke- 

 McNary Act, but also in recent years through 

 Federal emergency work programs, notably the 

 Civilian Conservation Corps. 



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