FORESTRY NOTES 



Edited by Walter L. Huber 



The Forest Fire Season of 1915 in California 

 During the forest fire season of 1915 there were reported in District 5 

 of the United States Forest Service, which includes California and 

 southwestern Nevada, 1190 fires. Of these 80.25 per cent were put out 

 when they had burned over areas of less than 10 acres. The total acre- 

 age burned inside the National Forests by these fires was 41,990.05, and 

 outside of the National Forests, 41,837.29. The damage is estimated at, 

 $7,343.79. These fires originated from the following causes: Railroads, 

 16; campers, 312; brush-burning, 62; lumbering, 58; lightning, 290; in- 

 cendiary, 261 ; miscellaneous, 59 ; unknown, 132. With a fire season of 

 the same number of days as that of last year the expenditure for fire 

 fighting was only one-third as large. 



Preventing Fires on Tamalpais 

 As a result of the great fire of 1913 the Tamalpais Fire Association 

 was organized in the fall of that year. It has, therefore, been in opera- 

 tion for two seasons, and so far its record is an excellent one. During 

 the two years a total of only 640 acres has been burnt over, which, on a 

 yearly basis, is equal to eight-tenths of one per cent of the 40,000 acres 

 under protection. It is also worthy of remark that only 30 acres of brush 

 land were touched by fire, the remaining 610 acres being grass land. The 

 actual damage was slight and consisted for the most part of the scorch- 

 ing of fences and out-houses. 



It is frequently said that the Association has been "lucky." Of course 

 a certain amount of chance enters into any system of fire prevention, 

 and the results depend, to a certain extent, on the conditions of wind 

 and weather when small fires break out. However, it seems only fair to 

 assume that the good results on Tamalpais have been largely due to two 

 things. In the first place, a campaign of education has been carried on 

 which has impressed hunters, hikers and others using the mountain park 

 with the importance of being extremely careful with the use of fire ; and 

 the education of the public has been supplemented by efficient policing 

 during the dry seasons, with strict enforcement of the regulation which 

 limits the building of camp fires to certain safely prepared spots, and 

 which obliges one first to procure a written permit from the patrolman 

 before lighting fires at these spots. These measures prevented the start 

 of many fires which undoubtedly would have occurred in the absence of 

 restrictions. In the second place, the organized fire-fighting forces of 



