Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1910-11-04
National Forest Fire Damage in
Montana and Northern Idaho.


the National Forests in Montana and
northern Idaho, upon which the forest
officers of the u. S. Department of
Agriculture have been engaged since
the fires were put out, puts the total
amount of timber killed or destroyed in
this one district at over six billion
board feet, while the area burned over
is put at over Ia million acres.
The heaviest losses were in two Idaho
forests, the Occur d'Alene, where over
three billion board feet of timber are
reported killed or destroyed and over
450 thousand acres burned over, and
the Clearwater, where one billion feet
of timber were killed or destroyed and
300 thousand acres burned over. On
the Helena National Forest, in Mon
tana, the loss in timber is believed to
have been 500 million feet, on the Cab
met forest 400 million, and on the Lolo
forest 300 million.
A large part of the losses on the
Occur d 'Alene, Clearwater, and Lolo
were due to what became practically
one great fire. The burn is shown on
the Forest Service maps as extending
in northeasterly and southeasterly
direction from north of Wallace, Idaho,
to point some 80 miles southwest of
Missoula, Mont, of nearly 100 miles.
At its widest point this burn has a
width of about 40 miles, but it's shape is
very irregular.
1t was really union of number of
separate fires, driven to fury by the
fierce hurricane of August &c. To the
west of the Idaho Montana boundary in
the region of this fire lies very mac
cessible mountainous country, into
which, on account of the absence of
trails and of forage, it was almost
impossible for forces of fire fighters to
penetrate. When the hurricane arose
it drove the fires upon the parties which
were hewing a way towards them,
forced these parties to seek refuge
wherever it could be found; and swept
down upon the forests where the fires
were up to that time generally we'll in
hand. The extensive losses are as
cribed to the combination of hurricane
and lack of means to get to the fires
and put them out before the storm
came. On the forests which were best
equipped for controlling fires the re-
c1ltc cbiaUad a,.a ,,aOard oJ &c n daY,,orc
tration of the efficacy of the fire fight
ing methods employed, even under
highly adverse natural conditions.
Forester Graves believes that as
usually happens in the case of big fires,
there will be found to be considerable
areas Of living timber within the re-
gions now mapped as entirely burned
over. Of necessity, the figures given
are tentative, for it has been impossi-
Bile to examine all the burned areas thor
oughly AS fast as possible, however,
the forest officers are locating and esti-
mating the bodies Of timber killed but
capable of being numbered, if taken in
time. There will be an enormous guam
/ tity of fre-killed timber, both on the
/ National Forests and on private lands,
to be disposed Of as soon as possible,
since if not marketed quickly it will not
/ be worth cutting at all
The Department of Agriculture will
push vigorously to dispose of this fire.
killed timber AS with all other Ma
tional Forest timber, it will be sold on
the stump, to millmen who will lumber
the land, paying set price per thou
sand board feet for the timber, and
conforming to whatever regulations are
stipulated in the interest of the forest.
Pending the disposal of this fire-killed
timber, future sales of green timber
from the National Forests which were
badly burned last summer will probably
be greatly restricted if not entirely sus-
pended.
Since the amount to be disposed of is
doubtless greater than can be marketed
in any event, and since it is better for
the country that the timber should be
utilized than that it should go to waste
in the woods, the price at which it will
be sold will be lower than would be
asked for the timber under ordinary
circumstances. Generally speaking,
Secretary Wilson does not regard it as
wise public policy to sell off the
National Forest timber except when il
is in reasonably good demand, for the
country is sure to need the supply badly
later on. But with the fre-killed tim
Der it is case of now or never. Con-
sequently there is an unusual opening
for lumbermen who are ready to buy
National Forest stumpage at bargain
prices.
How much of the six billion feet
which was either killed or burned up in
Montana and northern Idaho can event
ually be salvaged it is of course impos-
sible to predict. If it were all a total