WESTERN WHITH PINE AND LARCH-FIR FORESTS 13 
in the light of present knowledge appear to be sufficient to attain 
this end. The following requirements are therefore suggested, with 
full realization that they may be inadequate in certain cases, and 
that in others they may be in excess of needs. 
Administration.—(1) On every area there must be some agency 
responsible for seeing that immediate action is taken on every fire, 
that each is confined to the smallest possible area, and that no fire is 
left before it is out. 
(2) The responsible agency must be permanent and dependable. 
Especially it must be assured of constant financial support for a long 
period. ‘There is little to be gained by protecting forest land for a 
short while and then abandoning it to fire. 
(3) There should be some responsible officer prepared to take suit- 
able action upon every infringement of fire law, to the end that the 
number of man-caused fires may be greatly reduced. Damages and 
costs of man-caused fires, especially when resulting from negligence, 
should be recovered whenever possible from the person or agency 
responsible—this as much in the interest of equity as to discourage 
carelessness. 
(4) Education in fire prevention must be systematically under- 
taken. Care of camp fires, matches, and cigarettes must become 
instinctive with users of the forests. People of the Western States 
must come to recognize the enormous aggregate damage done by fires 
that spread on cut-over lands. They must come to appreciate the 
value of young growth. When the public fully grasps the impor- 
tance of these matters this realization will doubtless be a tremendous 
factor in eliminating lack of care in the use of fire. The schools and 
colleges in the white pine region have an unusual opportunity to 
serve the States in this respect. — 
Field organization. and plans.—(1) Duration of patrol: The period 
during which fire patrol should be maintained is affected by many 
factors, important among which are character of the season, alti- 
tude, special risks, whether virgin timber or cut-over land, and (if 
logged land) the quantity of débris on the ground and the amount of 
shade from remaining trees. 
As a rough guide the following dates may be set up as the period 
during which the field organization should properly be ready to 
function : 
inmecreenitimbers! tte Pay yos Tirrataqyn July 1 to September 10 
On cut-over land or old burns___________ May 1 to September 30 
For cut-over land handied in accordance with the recommenda- 
tions of this bulletin the period would be somewhere between these 
two. 
(2) Fire detection: One lookout to every 50,000 acres is neces- 
sary. The most intensive lookout system employed by private agen- 
cies at present has one lookout for every 27,000 acres. The average 
is about one to every 55,000 acres. The aim should be, as nearly as 
possible, to bring 100 per cent of the area under the constant super- 
vision of a permanent lookout never more than 12 miles distant. 
Observation from two or more points is greatly to be desired. 
(8) Patrol and smoke-chaser force: One man to every 10,000 
acres is necessary. A standard of three-hour control for green tim- 
