o4 ' BULLETIN 1494, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
over annually is used; namely, not more than 0.25 per cent of the 
protected area. 
To assure this limitation, the following measures are proposed: 
General protection—(1) A four-hour control for green timber 
from July 1 to September 10. 
.(2) A one-hour control for cut-over areas from June 1 to Sep- 
tember 30, with extension into May and October when occasion de- 
mands, for a period of 10 years after cutting. 
(3) Areas of special danger, such as blow-downs and undisposed 
slashings, to receive such special patrol and equipment as the officer 
responsible for their protection shall deem necessary. 
Control organization.—(1) There must be some agency responsible 
for getting immediate action on every fire and for seeing that each is 
confined to the smallest possible area and that no fire is left unat- 
tended before it is out. 
(2) The responsible agency must be permanent and dependable. 
(3) Costs of protection should be equitably distributed among 
owners. 
(4) There should be some responsible officer prepared to take 
suitable action nnen every infringement of fire law or legal regula- 
tion concerning fire prevention. 
(5) Damage and cost of fighting man-caused fires, especially those 
resulting from negligence, should be assessed to the person or agency 
responsible. 
(6) Education in fire prevention must be systematically under- 
taken. A | 
The greater part of the larch-fir forests of northwestern Montana 
are receiving reasonably adequate protection at the hands of the 
Federal Government, the State, or cooperative associations. For 
this, the Forest Service, with the greatest acreage to protect, expends 
on an average 5.5 cents per year. The State and the Northern Pacific 
Railway Co. pay for intermingled lands at the same rate. The State, 
likewise, maintains a separate organization in a number of localities 
and expects to give adequate protection at comparable rates. 
The cost to private owners of protection on intermingled and 
adjacent land ranges from nothing fer a few of the owners to 2.2 
cents per year for association contributors. ‘These favorable rates 
for a large part of these private lands have been possible because 
the owners have taken advantage of improvements, lookouts, equip- 
ment, supervisory organizations, and in some cases the patrol main- 
tained by the Federal Government for the protection of the national 
forests. Greater accessibility also favors much of the private land. 
The problem of adequate protection in this region is in a large 
measure a financial one. It is a problem of distributing the cost 
equitably among all owners. Of course, new improvements and 
betterments in organization and practice are still desirable and will © 
be possible when finances are provided. 
Improvements in private protection should take the direction of 
additional patrol in the spring and fall, more painstaking efforts to 
prevent spread of fire on cut-over areas, and better law enforcement. 
The permanent protection resulting from a compulsory patrol law 
is a thing to be desired. 
State participation in and supervision of protective effort is 
essential. _ 
