FOREST PROTECTION 



201 



Table 124. — Class of ■protection from fire on commercial and noncommercial forest land during 1952, by section, and region, 



and by ownership, United States and Coastal Alaska 



Section and region 



Federal forest land in 

 protection class — 



Other public forest land 

 in protection class — 



Private forest land in 

 protection class — 



All 

 land 



jwnerships of forest 

 in protection class— 





1 



2 



3 



Unpro- 

 tected 



1 



2 



3 



Unpro- 

 tected 



1 



2 



3 



Unpro- 

 tected 



1 



2 



3 



Unpro- 

 tected 



North: 



New England 



Per- 

 cent 

 93 

 81 

 30 

 2 

 3 



Per- 

 cent 

 7 

 19 

 55 

 80 

 3 



Per- 

 cent 



Per- 

 cent 



Per- 

 cent 

 61 



88 



33 



6 



7 



Per- 

 cent 

 39 

 12 

 42 

 49 



Per- 

 cent 



Per- 

 cent 



Per- 

 cent 

 25 

 62 

 36 

 6 



Per- 

 cent 

 75 

 21 

 48 

 21 

 1 



Per- 

 cent 

 (') 

 17 

 16 

 44 

 11 



Per- 

 cent 



29 

 88 



Per- 

 cent 

 28 

 66 

 34 

 6 

 ') 



Per- 

 cent 

 72 

 20 

 48 

 25 

 1 



Per- 

 cent 

 (') 

 14 

 18 

 42 

 13 



Per- 

 cent 









{') 

 25 

 45 

 21 



72 







15 

 18 

 40 



(') 

 54 



(') 





27 



Plains * 



86 







Weighted average . 



31 



44 



17 



8 



49 



33 



17 



1 



26 



32 



19 



23 



29 



33 



18 



20 







South: 



South Atlantic ._ - 



11 



1 

 1 



82 

 88 

 88 



7 

 10 

 9 



1 

 2 



{') 



74 

 42 

 56 



26 

 48 

 44 







78 

 49 

 56 



18 

 31 

 16 



4 



19 

 25 



1 

 1 

 2 



78 

 51 

 59 



17 



30 

 16 



4 





10 



1 

 3 



18 



West Gulf 



23 









4 



86 



9 



1 



(') 



52 



42 



6 



1 



58 



24 



17 



1 



60 



23 



18 







West: 



1 

 13 

 19 



28 



98 

 34 

 69 

 58 



1 

 53 

 12 

 14 







94 

 59 

 67 

 25 



6 





2 

 11 



19 

 5 



92 

 49 

 52 

 21 



6 

 40 

 28 

 30 



1 

 44 



1 



12 

 19 

 23 



96 

 42 

 67 

 50 



3 



46 

 14 

 17 









41 



21 



3 







9 

 8 



3 



64 



(') 



Southern Rocky Mountain 



10 







Weighted average 



18 



65 



17 





7 



63 



7 



23 



8 



56 



26 



10 



15 



62 



19 



4 







United States . 



18 

 5 

 17 



65 



81 

 66 



16 



14 

 16 



1 



34 



42 



17 



7 



12 



8 

 12 



47 

 84 

 47 



22 



8 

 22 



19 

 19 



15 

 5 

 15 



52 

 81 

 53 



20 



14 

 20 



13 









1 



34 



42 



17 



7 



12 







> Negligible. 



2 Approximately 500,000 acres of nonforest land included. 



' Approximately 9,540,000 acres of nonforest land included. 



adopted in all States in the near future. Prog- 

 ress may be expected in law enforcement. Thus, 

 the trend is toward continued progi-ess in all 

 phases of prevention. 



Protected Area Being Increased Rapidly 



Although only 12 percent of the country's 673 

 million acres of forest lands that need protection 

 are still without some coverage, 53 percent of 

 the 1952 burned area occurred on these lands. 

 In the average year almost three-fourths of the 

 losses occur on the unprotected area. Thus, the 

 extension of organized protection to this remain- 

 ing 82 million acres is important, if future burned 

 area is to be reduced significantly. 



The outlook for extending protection is bright. 

 Since 1945 the protected area has risen about 9 

 million acres per year. If the favorable trend 

 continues, even at a slightly reduced rate, by 1960 

 the protected area will probably reach 630 mil- 



lion acres, and by 1970 there should be virtually 

 no important lands unprotected. 



Intensification of Fire Control 

 Is Big Challenge 



It was brought out earlier that only 15 percent 

 of all forest lands requiring protection have Class 

 1 protection and 53 percent have Class 2. Thus, 

 32 percent fall in the highly inadequate Class 3 

 category or are unprotected (Class 4). Figure 75 

 shows that area burned per million acres protect- 

 ed declines sharply as the percentage of land 

 under Class 1 and 2 protection increases. This 

 relation was determined from the records of 37 

 States which in 1952 experienced burning condi- 

 tions severe enough to test the organizations re- 

 sponsible for protection. 



From the characteristically heavy losses that 

 occur during emergency fire periods, it is obvious 

 that the level of protection defined in both Class 



~rr 



