174 



Sierra Club Bulletin 



The State Forestry Commission has moreover announced a pro- 

 gressive program which it is going to ask the legislature to support. 

 It involves increased expenditures for fire protection of timberlands 

 outside the boundaries of the national forests, in co-operation with 

 the counties and private owners on the one hand, and with the Na- 

 tional Government on the other, and the initiation of a system of 

 state forests through the purchase of desirable cut-over land. This 

 program was discussed recently before a meeting of representative 

 lumbermen and foresters which unanimously indorsed it. The com- 

 mission also urged an extension of the work of the joint committee 

 already referred to, to cover any other disputed questions which 

 might be presented to it, and in preparation for such work a repre- 

 sentative of the Redwood Lumbermen's Association has been added. 



The lumbermen of the state, too, are (although in as yet rather too 

 local and individual instances) commencing to take steps toward 

 putting their industry on a permanent forestry basis. The Union 

 Lumber Company, for example, which has for many years done ad- 

 mirable pioneer work in the fire protection of its virgin timber, 

 has recently called on the University of California for advice in the 

 handling of its cut-over land. In accordance therewith, it is now 

 planning to extend its fire-protective system to this land, and to con- 

 duct a series of experiments on natural and artificial methods of 

 reproduction. The Fruit Growers Supply Company, to mention an- 

 other instance, is negotiating an agreement with the Forest Service 

 which will probably result in the cutting of the timber tributary to 

 its new sawmill at Susanville in complete accordance with the sil- 

 vicultural methods in effect on national forest land. Practically all 

 the lumber companies, moreover, whose lands are within the bound- 

 aries of the national forests are co-operating with the Forest Service 

 in fire protection of both virgin timber and cut-over land by contrib- 

 uting a pro-rata sum of money based on their acreage. 



So it may be seen that the movement toward private forestry is 

 gaining headway. National legislation either compelling or encour- 

 aging it may confidently be expected in the near future, and in the 

 meantime, without waiting for Congress to act, California is going 

 ahead on her own account and is preparing to make true progress in 

 solving a problem of national importance. 



