TIMBER GROWING IN DOUGLAS FIR REGION 26 
In Oregon, for example, where in 1924 a total of 1,888 fires out- 
side the national forests was reported, 84 per cent were man-caused; 
the rest were due to lightning. In the Douglas fir region alone the 
proportion of lightning fires was probably even less. The following 
were the major sources of fires in 1924, m order of frequency: In- 
cendiary, lightning, smokers, campers, slash burning, and clearing 
lands. Of the 947 fires in western Washington in 1922 (an excep- 
tionally bad year) 174, or only 18 per cent, were directly chargeable 
to logging operations; but these logging-operation fires caused 78 per 
cent of the $862,000 worth of damage done by all fires. 
NEEDED MODIFICATIONS IN THE PROTECTIVE SYSTEM 
The preceding paragraphs have sketched the present protective 
system and the results, as a background for the suggestions now to be 
made for modifications necessary to keep forest land permanently 
productive. 
CUT-OCVER LAND AND YOUNG GROWTH SHOULD BE PROTECTED FOR THEIR 
OWN SAKE 
The underlying purpose of the present protective system is the 
safeguarding of present values. The protection of land that a second 
crop of timber may be grown is now a secondary motive. Conse- 
quently, reforesting lands and lands which should reforest get a very 
small share of the protection funds. Cut-over land, second growth, 
and low-grade, scrubby stands have suffered accordingly. Fires 
which are not threatening merchantable timber are not fought with 
the vigor they might be. The intensity of protection is naturally 
gauged to the obvious values at stake; the object is to keep fire out 
of marketable timber. 
If timberland owners and the State are to get the potential wealth 
out of logged-off land by growing timber, these lands must get their 
full share of protection. 
THE PROTECTIVE SYSTEM SHOULD BE GAUGED TO FIT THE FIRE HAZARD 
If fires are to be kept out of all classes of forest land with equal 
success, the fire-control organization must make more systematic 
study of the fire danger of various regions and tracts, and gauge the 
protection accordingly. Only im this way will there be assurance of 
the same degree of security for low-value land (like second-growth or 
recently logged land) as for land of greater immediate value. This 
may mean the spending of more money on the protection of logged- 
off land than of virgin forest, merely because the probability of fire 
starting and spreading is greater. 
The fire danger or chance of a great conflagration on a given area 
is the sum total of a number of factors of which the most important 
are the actual inflammability of the material on the tract, the risk or 
likelihood of its catching fire, and the accessibility of the tract to fire- 
fighting forces. 
Inflammability depends upon the local climate, the density, age, 
and species of the timber, the character of the surface vegetation, the 
topography, and several other variable conditions. It is a matter of 
common observation that some types of forest or surface cover burn 
much more easily than others, The most inflammable type in this 
