► Government Forest Work 33 



ft-ged program of public acquisition of forests by the 

 Federal Government, the several States, and munici- 

 palities, and the protection and perpetuation of forest 

 growths on all privately owned lands which may not 

 better be used for agriculture and settlement. For 

 the latter there must be (1) an organized system of 

 protection of all forest lands, including cut-over lands, 

 against fire, with a division of the cost of maintaining 

 protection between the public and timberland owners, 

 and (2) public prescription and enforcement of methods 

 of woods practice necessary to prevent devastation. 



COOPERATION WITH STATES 



FIRE CONTROL 



Forest fires, which covered a total of 102,587,599 



*acres of land in 45 States, caused damage amounting 



to $142,517,651 during the eight years 1916 to 1923, 



inclusive. A total of 329,780 forest fires occurred 



during this period in the United States. 



Through cooperation of the Federal Government 

 'with States, under the provisions of the Weeks law, 

 very substantial progress has been made in bringing 

 about protection against fire on the forested water- 

 sheds of navigable streams, The law authorizes the 

 Secretary of Agriculture to enter into cooperative 

 agreements with States which provide by law for a 

 system of forest-fire control and are prepared to 

 spend each year at least as much as the Federal 

 Government contributes toward maintaining the 

 system. 



Since the enactment of the Weeks law the number 

 of States cooperating with the Government, the 

 amount of funds contributed, and the forest area 

 given protection under this plan have increased 

 ,e$teadily. In 1911, the first year of cooperation under 

 the Weeks law, 11 States entered into agreements 

 to protect a total of 7,000,000 acres of forest land, at 

 a total cost of $350,000, of which the Federal Govern- 

 ment contributed about $39,000. In 1924 the 29 

 -States cooperating protected 180,000,000 acres of 



