OUR FORESTS US 
32 million a year. The visitors include residents, who have estab- 
lished summer homes on the forests, hotel and resort guests, campers, 
picnickers, and transient motorists. For the convenience of visitors 
the Forest Service has established more than 5,500 public camp- 
grounds in the national forests. Some large cities, notably Los An- 
geles, Oakland, Berkeley, and San Francisco, have built permanent 
municipal camps on 
nearby forests where 
their citizens for a 
nominal sum may find 
rest and recreation. 
All that is asked of 
visitors is that they 
bring to the forest the 
care and thoughtful- 
ness they give to their 
own homes; that in 
seeking recreation in 
the forests, whether 
national, State, or pri- 
vate, they be careful 
not to abuse the hos- 
pitality of the woods. 
ENEMIES OF THE 
FOREST 
FirE—THE ARCH 
DESTROYER 
Although the forest 
is prey to many foes, 
its greatest single 
enemy is fire. 
A yearly average of 
190,942 fires, burning 
over more than 34,- 
000,000 acres, has oc- 
curred in the nited FIGURE 14 The Red enemy at it t te 
: G — y é S worst. 
States during the last : ees 
few years. About A crown fire destroys everything in its path. 
seven-eighths of these 
fires were caused by human carelessness, or indifference, through such 
agencies as campers, smokers, debris burners, and railroads. Many 
of these fires have been of incendiary origin. Only too common in 
this country are great fires which sweep over the forest consuming 
the largest trees, killing game and other wildlife, destroying human 
habitations and sometimes taking a high toll in human life. Such a 
fire is likely to result when high winds whip the flames into the 
tree tops. 
Not all fires are of this crown type, however. Frequently fires burn 
over the surface of the ground but do not reach the treetops. Such 
fires may leave the big trees living, and for this reason some persons 
have thought them not worth worrying about. But these fires that 
