shrubs and lichens, but the dry-tundra type runs more 
to the larger shrubs, grasses, weeds, and black sedges. 
The wet tundra is the most extensive type and occurs 
over most of the rolling, prairie like range immediately 
bordering the Bering Sea and Arctic Ocean, interspersed 
with areas of dry tundra on the better drained slopes 
and along stream courses. 
IMPORTANCE OF FIRE PREVENTION 
Naturally a country of such light rainfall as interior 
Alaska, with no organized means of fire protection, is 
subject to devastating forest and tundra fires which 
destroy game, birds, and fur bearers and their homes 
and sources of food supply, and affect the prospector 
and trapper adversely. A vast resource in the way of 
an abundant and luxurious plant growth, which could 
be utilized through the development of the grazing of 
game animals and of the ranging of livestock, is now 
going to waste and in many places is being destroyed 
by fire. 
The lichens, the mainstay of reindeer herds in winter, 
take from 15 to 40 years to reestablish themselves after 
a fire. And forested areas that have been burned over 
take many more years to produce a new crop of trees 
than is required in milder climates. 
It is a peculiar fact that practically all forest and 
tundra fires are man-caused, and therefore preventable. 
Since the interior has at present no organized fire- 
protection agencies, losses can be reduced only by the 
whole-hearted cooperation of those who go abroad in 
forest and tundra. 
7 
