Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1908-10-03
How Uncle Sans Forests are Protected
From Fire.

How Uncle Sans Forests are Protecte,
From Fire.
Nothing could better call the attention
Of thinking people to the necessity TO
tue preservation of our natural resource
than the great forest fires which hav,
been 80 WIDELY distributed Throughout
the country and have played such havoc
this summer. 1t is doubtful If the loss
es for the year 1908 will ever be fully
known, but conservative estimate by
w. ]. McGee, Erosion Expert, United
States Department of Agriculture, places
the aggregate loss in all parts of the
country during those months of confla.
grafton at 81 100000 day. In nearly
every instance, probably in every in
stance these devastating fires might have
been prevented II the various states had
provided an adequate number of men
to patrol the woods and arrest all such
fires In their incipiency, and II lumber
men and other users of the forest were
careful to dispose of brush after logging
SO as to prevent the spread Of fires.
Uncle Sam has had lot of work to do
on his National Forests in the fire.
fighting line this year, but his work has
shown good results. Exclusive of the
salaries of forest officers, the work OF
putting down fires on the National For
ests for the year has cost the govern
ment $4,000. This means protecting
approximately l6S, 100000 acres. The
value ofthe timber destroyed will not
be known until the fire reports are made
at the end Of the year, though it is esti-
mated that it will be larger than last
year. But it will be Insignificant when
compared with the appalling fire losses
outside of the National Forests on un-
protected areas, or with the destruction
which would have come to the timber
in the National Forests had they not
been protected.
These results have come through the
increased efficiency of fire patrol and
methods of fighting fire and through the
cooperation of settlers and users Of For
ests who understand that the Forests
are their property and that loss from
fire is personal one. BY posting fire
notices and giving advice the Govern
ment has secured cooperation from the
outside, which may be said to be as i'm
portant an agency in reducing the loss
from forest fires as is the perfection OF
machinery for fighting these fires.
After timber is cut, the regulations re-
quire brush to be compactly piled at a
safe distance from living trees. Some
times this brush is burned under direc-
ton of Forest officer, but even if it is
allowed to stand, no fire that starts finds
fuel by which it can spread.
The National Forests are constantly
patrolled by picked force of rangers
and guards. The present summer force
of such rangers and guards, whose main
duty is fire patrol, is 1851 men; the av-
erage area that each is required to pro-
tect is l2l, 500 acres. 1t is fully under
stood that this area is altogether too
large, and just as soon as funds are avail
able to permit of the employment of a
larger force of men the area will be re-
duced.
In order to provide rapid means of
travel between the various parts of the
National Forests and to facilitate the
massing of large forces of men to fight
fire, as we'll as to furnish vantage points
from which the fires may be fought sue
cessfully, l60 miles of road and $500
miles of trail were built during the last
fiscal year. In several cases fire breaks
from l6 to 100 feet in width have been
constructed, from which all timber and
inf1ammable material is removed, to
furnish obstacles to the spread of fire, or
straight lines of defense in fighting the
fire once started. Several miles of such
fre-breaks now exist on the National
Forests in southern California, where it
is especially important that the forest
cover on the watersheds Of important ir-
rigation streams be protected.
Telephone lines have been construct
ed connecting ranger stations with the
headquarters of the Forest, in order that
fires may be reported and promptly ex-
tinguished. During the fiscal year end
ing June 80, 1908, $500 miles of tele-
phone lines were constructed in the Ma
tional Forests.
Just as rapidly as possible, each Ma.
tional Forest is supplied with shoveIs,
axes, and other tools, which are distrib-
uted over the Forests aud cabins and
tool boxes are placed at points where
there is the greatest danger of FIRE and
where they can be easily reached by
trail. Field glasses are also furnished,
since their use in discovering small fires
at considerable distance has proved
very helpful.
Upon the basis of the Forest Service
experience on the National Forests
on which the total administration per
acre, including fire patrol, amounts to
only one cent, the whole forest area of
the United States could be protected
from fire at a total cost of less than $3,-
900, 900. This would save an annual loss
of $40, 900, 600 for timber alone, to say
nothing of the enormous loss of life, the
loss to new tree growth, the loss of soil
fertility, the damage to river courses
and adjacent farm country, and the de-
probation in forest wealth and land
values.
The production of gold in the Black
Hills for the year 1908 is placed at $S,.
500, 900. This considering the great
hindrance of mine development caused