Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1906-03-16
Successful Fire Protection in
California.

An item of news of wide Importance
to timberland owners is the announce.
ment that California lumber company
which applied plan of fire protection
to a single township during the summer
of 1905 is now preparing to extend the
same protection to the rest of its large
holdings of cut-over land.
Except in the National forests, but little
attempt has as yet been made to protect
from fire the forests or cut-over lands of
the Pacific coast. In California, it is
true, the State forester has taken up fire
protection az one of the most pressing
problems of his administration. But in
Oregon and Washington particularly, land
on private holdings in California, fires
are so destructive that little hope is
cherished by owners of securing crops on
cut-over land before fire have prevented
or destroyed them. The severe losses
which have come from these fires have.
however, made deep impression upon
lumbermen. Where tlmberlands are
owned, too often the investor must be
contented with The profits of his first
numbering operations, since, despite the
excellent natural reproduction which
would, under better conditions, restore
the lands to forests, fire is almost certain
to burn over, killing seedlings, scorching
larger growth, and so deferring future
crops indefinitely.
In the summer of 1904 the McCloud
River Lumber Company! of McCloud,
CAL, approaching the seriousness of the
fire losses common to numbering opera.
tons in the region, agreed to attempt to
protect its land according to the advice
of the Forest Service, provided the plan
of fire protection could be shown to be
practicable and not too costly. The area
chosen for the plan was cut-over land,
township in extent, on which the
amount and character of the young tim
Der was, as is commonly the case, suff1-
Gent to warrant expanding something to
guard it until it should establish re-
newed forest
Last summer the plan was put in oper-
alton. 1t called for clearing and burn.
ing broad fire lines from 200 to 300 feet
in width. to serve as base lines from
which to fight possible fires; organizing
patrol; locating tool houses for the
storage of fire-fighting tools; erecting
telephone lines to summon aid; and
other similar measures. In making the
fire lines, the old logging trans were
followed as far as possible. Twenty
miles of lines were cleared.
During the dry season of 1905 the oper-
alton of this plan proved so successful
that the company took steps to extend
the protection to the rest of its holdings
from three to four hundred thousand
acres-and may now apply to the Forest
Service for another plan to cover an adj
ditional 10000 acres recently purchased
in southern Oregon.
The holdings of the McCloud River
Lumber Company are in a region where
the danger from fire is unusually great,
since the long dry season and the abun-
dance of slash and chaparrel not only
make the starting of fires very probable,
but also render their control difficult in
a high degree.
One of the most important and signifi-
cant points in connection with this use
of fire protection system by private
owner is the fact that it means the recog-
milton of the future value of young tim
Der, proof that forestry has made rapid
strides in California.