Timber Depletion and the Answer. 15 



organized fire-fighting forces. Every forest owner, large or small, 

 should bear his proportionate share of its cost, about half of which 

 may be properly borne by the State itself with the aid of the Federal 

 Government. Police regulations for the control of fire during dry 

 periods in connection with railroad or industrial operations near 

 forest land, land clearing or slash disposal, hunting, etc., and for the 

 control of incendiarism, form an essential feature of the protective 

 system. 



State laws should establish the responsibility of owners of forest 

 land for complying with such equitable requirements as may be 

 determined upon and promulgated by the proper State agency, 

 dealing with precautions against forest fires, the disposal of slashings, 

 methods of cutting timber or of extracting particular forest products, 

 such as naval stores or pulpwood, and such other equitable require- 

 ments as the authorized State agency shall determine upon as neces- 

 sary to prevent devastation. All timber and cut-over land in State 

 or private ownership, which is not now required for other uses than 

 timber growing, should be classed as "forest land" and placed under 

 the control of the State forest organization, as far as it deems meas- 

 ures of control necessary to prevent devastation. 



The agency in each State charged with the administration of 

 the laws dealing with forest fires and devastation preferably should 

 be a nonpartisan commission exercising wide latitude under the 

 general authority .of the State in determining equitable regulations 

 applicable to various classes of forest lands. It should have author- 

 ity, backed by penalties prescribed in the law, to enforce its regula- 

 tions, subject to appeal by landowners to a judicial review. It 

 should have authority to investigate any questions concerning the 

 forests and forest industries of the State and to advise and assist 

 forest owners in carrying out the most effective technical methods 

 on their land. It should have authority and funds for growing 

 planting stock and distributing it to landowners in the State at cost. 

 It should have charge of the acquisition and administration of State 

 forests, and of the classification of receded tax lands to segregate 

 areas which should be incorporated in State forests. It should unify 

 in one body all forest activities of the State. The make-up of this 

 commission should represent the general public, its forest owners, its 

 wood-using industries, and other interests or organizations concerned 

 with timber production. 



(2) State and Municipal Forests. 



Effective progress in restoring the enormous areas of denuded land 

 to timber growth can be made only by largely increasing public 

 forests. Supplementing the policy of forest acquisition by the Federal 

 Government, every State, including States in the prairie region, 



