Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 February 1914 — METHODS USED IN THE PROTECTION OF FORESTS OF U. S. FROM FIRES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

METHODS USED IN THE PROTECTION OF FORESTS OF U. S. FROM FIRES

Great Progress Has Been Made in the Work—Organized Plans \ Obtain in the National Reserves, While the States of the ■ Union Have Systematized Method of Preserving Their Forests From This Scourge.

Washington.—The first measure necessary for the successful practice of i forestry is protection from forest fires. As long as there is any considerable risk from fire, forest owners have little incentive to make provision for natural reproduction, to plant trees, to make improvement cuttings, or to do their work looking to continued forest production. ZE3 ~7~ In many localities great progress has lately been made in forest pro-

tection. Organized fire protection has been established in the national forests and in most of the state forest reservations. A number of states have begun to develop systematic fire protection on private lands through the organization of estate fire wardeas. In some Instances private owners formed co-operative associations for fire protection and employ a regular force of rangers for patrol during the fire season. The most conspicuous and successful associations are those formed by certain lumber companies in Idaho and Washington. Throughout the country there are here and there instances of serious effort toward thorough fire protection by individual private owners. In spite of all that has been done, however, the fact remains that most of the forests of the country, particularly those privately owned, are Inadequately protected from fire. It is probable that in fully 75 per cent, of the private

forests there is no attempt whatever at systematic protection. , Reproduction in the forests of this country has been more influenced by fire than by any other one factor. The present composition, form, density, and yield of a great many stands are due to the influence of fires on reproduction. Repeated fires prevent reproduction by destroying the seed and killing the seedlings. This Is well illustrated in certain areas of the south, where longleaf pine is not reproducing Itself —not because there is a lack of seed or because the conditions for germination are unfavorable, but because the annual fires kill the young trees. Fires may influence reproduction through their effect on the soil and

the soil corer. Frequently after fires the ground le occupied by heavy brush or by grass, which impedes or in some cases prevents the reproduction of "valuable trees. Many of the grass parks in the western mountains are the result of fire. A grass vegetation has replaced the forest The running wild of burned areas to a heavy growth of brush to a common occurrence after fires in many of our east-

era forests, as, for example, in Pennsylvania. In some sections of the country forest fires have always been of. such common occurrence that there is a popular notion that they can not be prevented. The risk from fires can never be entirely, eliminated, for in the forest there is always inflammablematerial which la very easily ignited. They may, however, be largely prevented, and under efficient organization their damage may be kept down to a very small amount. Broadly speaking, a fire line is a cleared strip in the forest used as an aid in the protection from fire. It may be a road, a trail, a river or stream, a line cleared especially for a fire break, or a plowed furrow. - The purpose of fire lines is to check or stop fires and to facilitate fighting them. A small surface fire may be stopped entirely by a road or even a path. Some surface fires are easily checked in their progress by narrow fire lines; others can be stopped only by very wide lines. Crown fires and

surface fires of unusual severity will readily leap across even very wide fire lines. Fire lines, therefore, should not be built with the idea that they will always stop fires. They are intended to serve primarily as an aid, and often are an indispensable aid, in controlling fires and preventing their spread. Even when they do not actually stop or check a fire they serve as vantage points from which the fighting crew may work. Their establishment usually makes the woods accessible, so that a crew can get to a fire or near it quickly with appliances for fighting it. An ordinary dirt road ranks as one of the best of all fire lines. The wider the road the more effective it is. A forest well cut up with roads is, therefore, much more easily protected than one with few or no roads. In Europe every well-organized forest has a thoroughly planned network of roads. These are located primarily with reference to the problem of logging, but they serve also as a network of fire lines, and special lines are cleared to supplement them where necessary.

Every part of the forest is readily accessible not only for patroling for fire during the danger season, but for the quick transportation of fire-fight-ing appliances. In case a fire should start in this forest and be discovered within a reasonable time it would be easy to confine it to a small area. We can not expect to have such a well-organized system of rttads and fire lines in our forests for a long

time, but much can be done In the way of utilizing the more or less temporary roads that are used in logging and afterwards abandoned. One of the great difficulties in extensive forest districts is to secure the necessary help in fighting fires. The telephone is the greatest aid in fire patrol. It enables the man who discovers a fire to call for help and to give directions as to the number of men and the equipment needed. By’ the use of the telephone on the national forests millions of dollars have doubtless already been saved. The forest service has since 1906 built 4,850 miles of telephone line, and it is extending the lines as rapidly as congress furnishes the funds for ' the work.

Location of Fire Lines in the Angeles National Forest, California.

Hollow Tree, the Result of Fires.

Range-Finder Signal Tower No. 2, on the Arkansas National Forest.

Fungus Attacking Tree Through Fire Scears.

Fire Line Cleared Near Railway.