220 



Sierra Club Bulletin 



The legislature of 19 19 passed several measures designed to reduce the for- 

 est-fire hazard. It appropriated $25,000 to the State Board of Forestry for the 

 biennium 1919-1921 for the prevention and suppression of forest fires; the 

 board was authorized to divide the state into districts, employ district fire 

 rangers, and under specified conditions pay fire-fighting expenses. The Penal 

 Code was amended and now requires all gas tractors, oil-burning engines, gas- 

 propelled harvesting-machines, and auto-trucks engaged in harvesting or mov- 

 ing grain and hay to be equipped with an effective spark-arrester. In the sec- 

 tion regarding leaving camp-fires unextinguished, the phrase "upon departure" 

 was changed to read "without some person in attendance." By a change in the 

 Civil Code the United States is extended the right, heretofore limited to the 

 state and counties, of recovering in a civil action double the damages resulting 

 from fires caused by wilfulness, malice, or negligence, or the actual damage if 

 the fire occurred accidentally, and the full costs incurred in fighting such fires. 



A long forward step was taken on October 14 and November 5, 1920, at 

 meetings of the California Forestry Committee, the State Board of Forestry, 

 and a number of leading lumbermen, at which definite plans were formulated 

 for the proper disposal of slash after lumbering. 



Some progress is being made in the movement to preserve a number of 

 groves and at least one large forest of the coast redwood north of San Fran- 

 cisco Bay. On May 3, 1920, Congress asked for a report on redwood areas 

 suitable for national parks. At the request of the Secretary of the Interior, a 

 survey was made in the fall of 1920 by the United States Forest Service, under 

 the direction of District Forester Paul G. Redington, traveling expenses in- 

 curred in field-work being paid by the Save the Redwoods League. One rep- 

 resentative each from the State Forester's office and the Division of Forestry 

 of the University of California assisted in the survey. In the fall of 1920 the 

 Save the Redwoods League was incorporated on a non-profit basis, its pur- 

 poses being to encourage interest in the redwoods and bring about a better 

 understanding of their value; to promote the establishment of national, state, 

 county, and private redwood parks; to bring into unity of action all interests 

 concerned in preserving the redwoods for scenic, recreational, and economic 

 purposes ; to acquire areas of redwood land in order to insure their preservation. 



Improper taxation is a close rival to fire in its power to destroy forests. As 

 someone has expressed it, Palestine was fairly well wooded until "the Turk put 

 a tax on the tree." A California forester has been doing notable work in devel- 

 oping federal policies of forest taxation. Called from his professorship of for- 

 estry at the University of California in the spring of 1919, Major David T. 

 Mason has been in the federal Treasury Department charged with the respon- 

 sible and difficult task of determining the federal taxes on the great lumber 

 industry of the nation. The equitable adjustment of income taxes in this in- 

 dustry has peculiar problems, and their wise solution means much to our 

 forests. The work is now well organized, and Major Mason returns to his 

 university duties in January, 1921. 



In describing the California White and Sugar Pine Manufacturers' Associa- 

 tion in the Sierra Club Bulletin of January, 191 8, the statement is made: 

 "Under unscrupulous management, it could be a powerful agent for unneces- 



