PROJECTED TIMBER SUPPLIES — 19 70 LEVEL OF MANAGEMENT 



37 



Forest area burned and fire control expenditures 



Figure 17 



Table 



25. — Rep 



irted exi 



lenditures for fo 



rest jire 





protection, 



1950-71 



i 









[Million 



dollars] 















Total 





National 

 Forest 



Other 

 Federal 



State 

 and 







Year 













private 2 



Current 

 dollars 



1967 

 dollars 



1950-__ 



7 





29 



37 



66 



1951..- 



6 





32 



39 



64 



1952___ 



10 





36 



47 



75 



1953--. 



7 





38 



46 



72 



1954___ 



13 





39 



53 



81 



1955.-- 



12 



1 



39 



52 



77 



1956--. 



19 



2 



42 



63 



88 



1957-.. 



23 



2 



45 



70 



93 



1958--_ 



23 



4 



52 



79 



102 



1959..- 



29 



7 



54 



90 



113 



1960..- 



39 



7 



57 



103 



126 



1961-.- 



55 



8 



61 



124 



149 



1962.-. 



58 



9 



65 



132 



156 



1963.-- 



41 



8 



67 



116 



133 



1964.__ 



39 



9 



73 



121 



134 



1965.-- 



43 



10 



77 



130 



140 



1966.-- 



42 



9 



86 



137 



142 



1967.-- 



54 



17 



91 



162 



162 



1968.-- 



75 



19 



96 



190 



181 



1969.-- 



53 



25 



101 



179 



159 



1970_-- 



58 



29 



114 



201 



164 



1971 3 - 



113 



39 



125 



277 



213 



1 Includes funds appropriated for prevention, presup- 

 pression and suppression of forest fires. Does not include 

 additional expenditures for hazard reduction such as slash 

 burning and prescribed burning, and unreported expendi- 

 tures by counties, private operators and others. Such 

 expenditures were roughlv estimated at $25 million in 

 1960 and S120 million in 1970. 



2 Cooperative forest fire prevention and control expendi- 

 tures under Clarke-McNary Law, Section 2. 



3 Preliminary. 



Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service 

 and cooperating agencies. 



Additional unreported expenditures for hazard 

 reduction, such as slash disposal and prescribed 

 burning, 1 plus other protection efforts not included 

 in organized programs amounted to an estimated 

 $120 million in 1970. Thus total direct and indirect 

 outlays for fire control and hazard reduction in 

 1970 amounted to about $320 million. 



The area protected against wildfires by organized 

 fire control programs has gradually risen to a total 

 of about 973 million acres in the contiguous States, 

 plus some 248 million acres in interior Alaska 

 (table 26). Areas protected include nearly all the 

 496 million acres classed as commercial timberland, 

 most of the 270 million acres of noncommercial 

 forests, and approximately 170 million acres of 

 nonforest watershed and intermingled nonforest 

 land in the contiguous States. As of 1970, estimates 

 of protection agencies indicated there were some 

 56 million acres of rural lands still not receiving 

 organized fire protection. 



Areas burned. — In contrast to the continuing 

 rise in protection expenditures, there has been no 

 pronounced trend in forest area burned by wildfires 

 during the past 15 years. Areas burned during this 

 period were of course only a fraction of fire losses 

 in earlier decades. 



Total areas reported burned in the contiguous 

 States during the 1960's averaged about 3.9 

 million acres annually (table 26 and fig. 17). This 

 included both forest and nonforest lands in areas 

 such as southern California, and both protected 

 and unprotected areas. Areas burned have fluc- 

 tuated widely from year to year. 



Commercial timberlands burned during the 

 1960's — of key importance for timber supply 

 analvsis — averaged about 1.3 million acres an- 

 nually. About 6 percent of this burned area was 

 National Forest land; the remaining 94 percent 

 was private and other public land. Areas burned 

 annually during the 1960's averaged about 0.25 

 percent of the total area of commercial timber- 

 land, with rates varying from 0.08 percent of the 

 commercial timberland in National Forests to 

 0.35 percent on other ownerships. 



In spite of increasing protection expenditures, 

 the number of fires starting annually has continued 

 to average about 120,000 per year. As in the case 

 of area burned, rising expenditures for fire preven- 

 tion and control have in effect been offset by 

 greater risks stemming from improved access and 

 greater public use of forest areas. 



Future trends. — Comparison of the relatively 

 stable trend in areas burned by wildfires in the 

 1960's with the rising trend in control expendi- 

 tures suggests that continuing increases in fire 

 control expenditures may be necessary to prevent 

 increases in area burned. Risks of fire continue 



1 Cooper, Robert W. The pros and cons of prescribed 

 burning in the South. Forest Farmer 31(2):10-12, 39-40. 

 November 1971. 



