30 BULLETIN 1493, U. 8. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
if the public and all users of the forest were trained to be as careful 
with fire in the forest as they would be in a powder factory. 
In time it is hoped that persistent propaganda and direct pre- 
ventive measures will have the effect of diminishing the need for a 
big protective organization. But for the present, money spent lib- 
erally on saving what virgin timber and second growth there is and 
on starting other lands to reforest is well spent both for the owner 
and the commonwealth. If the recommendations made above are 
followed, especially those for better law enforcement, better slash 
burning, and more care with fire in logging, it will not be necessary 
to spend a great deal more money on general fire control. The 
present system in western Oregon and Washington probably costs, 
for the area actually protected, about 3 to 3% cents an acre a year.® 
Add to this another cent an acre effectively spent on direct preven- 
tion as outlined above and forest investments both in young and old 
timber would be reasonably safe. 
There is a large acreage not now given regular protection (property 
of local residents, for example) which should come under the system 
and there is a still larger area being protected which is not paying its 
share of the cost (cut-over land which is not considered a menace or 
which the State foresters can not assess for compulsory patrol). 
Thus some owners not now paying their share for protection should 
do so. If all owners of forest land were paying their proportionate 
share, the system could be made more effective even without any 
crease in the present assessment rate. The workings of the exist- 
ing compulsory patrol law should be extended. 
MODIFICATION OF STATE FIRE LAWS 
The fire laws of the two States are generally satisfactory for the 
Dougias fir region. Modification of the present law is less important 
than better enforcement. There are some minor improvements in 
the law which might be made, but it is not the province of this bul- 
letin to suggest the legislative enactments necessary to carry out the 
various suggestions made herein. It is its province to treat of the 
principles that underlie continuous forest production rather than the 
economics or machinery of applying these principles. Other agencies 
are giving consideration to the details of needed legislation. 
RETURNS AND COSTS CF MINIMUM MEASURES 
EXPECTED FUTURE YIELDS 
Studies of the growth and yield of Deugias fir in western Oregon 
and Washington furnish a reliable basis for the prediction of probable 
returns from timber growing in this region. These studies were con- 
fined to normal, fully stocked stands, those where all available space 
is being utilized by living trees. Such methods as have been recom- 
mended in the preceding pages should result in fairly successful 
regeneration and growth. Some stands will probably not be fuily 
stocked; there will be holes and thin places in the forest; now and 
then there will be nonreforesting areas which continue to he unpro- 
8 This is an average figure. In certain years some individuals and associations have spent many times 
this amount, but that was because their protective efforts were not successful and they had enormous 
fire-fighting expenses, 
ee 
‘Wren AON mg Sh 
