WESTERN WHITE PINE AND LARCH-FIR FORESTS 19 
COSTS 
It is essential in a study of the timber-growing possibilities of the 
region to draw a sharp line between the cost of preventing and 
controlling fires in active logging operations and the blanket cost 
of protecting forest land. 
If the cost of the special patrol necessary during the life of the 
operation and the cost of suppressing fires caused by the operation 
or rendered unmanageable because of slash on the ground are in- 
cluded in the blanket cost of protection—that is, are spread evenly 
over the entire acreage protected—some very erroneous conclusions 
are likely to be drawn. 
In the first place, the actual money cost of improper slash dis- 
posal is not brought home to the men in charge of the woods opera- 
tion. This leads to a practice of gambling with the slash menace 
in an attempt to get cheaper logs. If this cost is frankly recog- 
nized as a logging cost, the expense of proper. slash disposal appears 
in a much better light. On the other hand, the swollen protection 
costs give a wrong idea of the cost of holding or growing timber and 
are responsible in no small degree for the doubt which exists in 
many quarters of the feasibility of growing white pine. 
In considering past costs another fact deserves attention. The 
acreage protected by the associations has been some 50 per cent 
ereater than the acreage contributing. In other words, the total 
cost has been spread over only two-thirds of the acreage. It is 
clear, therefore, that the past costs of the Idaho associations is not 
a fair criterion by which to judge the cost of growing future forests. 
The cost of adequate patrol (exclusive of fire suppression) can 
be fairly closely estimated. Plans drawn up by three associations 
indicate a cost of about 6.5 cents an acre for patrol. The experience 
of the Forest Service for the past five years would indicate that 4 
cents an acre should be enough to allow for fire suppression. Over 
a long period of years, during which as a result of improved methods 
of slash disposal the ceneral fire danger should be expected to 
decrease, it would seem that 10 cents an acre should be a generous 
estimate of the cost of protecting the forest land. 
Federal aid under the terms of the Clarke-] McNary Act of 1924 
reduces the cost to the landowner at present about 1 cent an acre. 
It is contemplated that under this law the Federal Government will 
eventually bear about one-fourth of the total cost of production, 
which will bring the net cost to the owner down to about 7.5 cents. 
Since in practice the Federal funds are being concentrated as far as 
possible on cut-over land and areas of young growth, the cost for 
such lands may be still further reduced. 
It may be expected that increased expenditure by the States wili 
first take the form of investments in more thorough supervision and 
inspection as well as a more direct control of key men in the protec- 
tive organization, and that it will not be Redo’ 4 to any great 
extent in the patrol cost except in so far as the general elficiency 
of the protection work is increased. 
No consideration is given in this discussion to the cost of the 
special precautions needed around logging operations. Beyond 
doubt the cost will be less in operations where slash is car efully piled 
and burned than where it has been burned by the broadcast method 
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