Forestry Notes 



211 



Timber Exchanges — Forest Service timber lands are so inter- 

 National Parks mingled with private holdings throughout a 



number of the Sierra forests as to make the 

 administration of both private and National Forest land unnecessarily 

 difficult and expensive. The Yosemite Lumber Company, of Merced 

 Falls ; the Hume-Bennett Lumber Company, of Sanger, and the Madera 

 Sugar Pine Company, of Madera, are at present negotiating with Dis- 

 trict Forester DuBois for timber land exchanges which, if made, will 

 result in the consolidation of the holdings of both parties and in the 

 preservation of scenic timber areas. 



The lands which the Yosemite Lumber Company propose to exchange 

 are situated along the beautiful Wawona road which leads into the 

 Yosemite National Park from the south. The exchange, if effected, 

 will preserve all of the timber along this road, which would ordinarily 

 be cut by the lumber company, making it very unsightly. 



The area which the Hume-Bennett Lumber Company propose to ex- 

 change contains valuable big tree timber along the route into the Kings 

 River Canon, which should be preserved for the people. 



The Madera Sugar Pine Company offers to exchange land in the 

 vicinity of Signal Peak, near Wawona. This area has great scenic 

 beauty and is now visited by a good many people in the summer season 

 from the Wawona Hotel. 



It will be necessary for Congress to pass enabhng Acts before any 

 of these exchanges can be made. 



Forest Fire Fred G. Plumber, of the Forest Service, who is gathering 

 Statistics statistics of this year's fires, says of the work of the 

 Forestry Service : 

 "The forest ranger service has reduced the loss through fire by 

 seventy-five per cent; it has accomplished this within the past few 

 years. The fire loss, however, is still appalling. It amounts to about 

 30,000,000,000 feet a year. That is an amount equal to the annual 

 growth. That one fact is sufficient to emphasize the seriousness of 

 the situation. 



"The forest rangers are about the finest body of young men in the 

 world. There are 3,600 of them, and each is in love with his work. He 

 is willing to undergo any sort of hardship and take any conceivable 

 risk to perform his duties. 



"The efficiency of this department is being increased constantly, but it 

 alone cannot solve the problem. A number of the Forest States have 

 rendered material assistance in the enactment of stringent laws for 

 the protection of timber and future legislation will doubtless attain the 

 end desired. 



"The worst foe we have to deal with is the forest incendiary. Most of 

 the fire losses are due to the work of men who dehberately set fire to 

 the timber in order to clear the land. Cattlemen have been frequently 

 charged with the responsibility for these crimes." — American Forestry. 



