The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-12-19

ington. 1t is also going to mean
that there will always be officers with
the power TO make decisions. near
the ground, who can look into the
facts for themselves, Wherever nee
essary, without having to decide them
at long range. | believe every man
who uses the National Forests will
! realize these things inside of six
months"
| 1t is probable that there have never
been new Government offices started
with their procedure so fully and def
initely outlined As that for the six
District offices of the Forest Service
in the West. It has been possible
to start all the offices well equipped
with men with both the training and
experience to take up the work. A
large proportion of them are men
who have formerly been in charge of
National Forests and who have been
promoted to higher positions as the
direct result of their efficiency All
the District officeds are familiar
WilH NtoNtl " tOl'llllOio' many "
them were born in the West and
lived there before. and after they en-
tered the Government Forest work.
1.-THE Unprecedented destruction this
season by forest fires in West Vir-
ginia has called the attention of the
people, as never before, to the neces-
sity of better protection to woods
and watersheds" says Hu Maxwell,
chairman of the West Virginia Con-
servation Commission. The rela-
tionship between denuded noun
,tains and floods is better under, TODD
than formerly and the problem Of
future timber supply has ceased
to be a question for academic discus
sion.
I Every one of the So counties had
one or more fires, some being small
and spreading through a few wood
lots only, others covering more than
$4,000 acres. The areas burned ag
gregated 100000 acres, Approximate
ly one-fifth of the wooded area OF
the state. Timber burned amounted
to more than 943, 3,5OO,0OO feet, board
measure, about per cent of the en-
tire estimated standing timber, large
and small, in the state, or two-thirds
of the output of all the sawmllls Of
West Virginia in 1907.
money losses were heavy. The
value of timber burned was 81 ,903 600.
There were losses in manufactured
lumber, tanbark, building and other
improvements amounting to $I9O,l75.
heavy damage to underground and
SOIL and this has been placed at one
dollar an acre for every acre burned,
making a loss of $l,7OSS5 in the
state. These losses total up to So
097 ,S25. The reported expenditures
by the state and individuals for fire
fighting form an interesting contrast
to the .oss of more than $4,000, ,0uO.
The amount which the county treas
uries and companies are reported To
have spent TO suppress fires was only
$G4G; individuals and companies are
reported to have spent about $4,000.
"The injury to the soil from fire
was much more severe this season in
West Virginia than ever before, not
alone because the burned area was
larger than in any former year, but
also for the reason that excessive
ldryness exposed the humus to greater
dcpts. Ground fires have been un-
usual heretofore in this state, but
this season they We're common and
I, widespread. Two human lives were
lost in the fires.
THE mountain people fought fires
in the past, when they fought at all,
by raking the leaves and sticks from
fire lane two or three feet wide and
back firing. That method failed this
year Fires crossed the lanes by
burning the humus beneath the sur
face, and then started up on the
farther side. The fires burned so
deeply in the humus that an unusual
phenomenon was presented when a
rncw iall came early in November
The snow apparently extinguished the
fires, but 1t went away kquickly un-
der the influence of strong, dry
wind, and the fires came up and out
of the ground and we're soon spread
ing again. saw an interesting ex-
ample OF this. In the morning the
snow in the woods was two inches
deep, and no fire was to be seen.
Before sunset the snow was gone
and the leaves were burning.
''Large tracts OF land on the high
mountains were denuded of soil down
to the rocks. Over much OF the area
where hte Pottsvile Conglomerate is
the surface formation, there never
was much mineral soil Beds OF moss,
lichen, leaves and decayng wood
formed a covering for the rocks
which gave anchorage to the roots Of
llhe forest trees. Over extensive
tracts, soils of that kind were abso-
lutely destroyed"
Conservation CONGRESS