East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1910-11-19
ROUGH ESTIMATE Of
FOREST FIRE DAMAGE
DONE TO MONTANA AND
NORTHERN IDAHO TIMBER
Y. S. Department of Agriculture Plac-
es Estimate at @ Million Board Feet
and Area I ii Million Acres-Ef-
forts VIII he Made To Sell Burned
Timber.


A rough estimate of the fire loss
upon the National Forests in Mon
tana and Northern Idaho, upon which
are Forest officers Of the u. S. De-
partment of Agriculture have been
engaged since the fires were put out,
puts the total amount of timber kill
at over 6 billion board feet, while the
area burned over is put at over l IA
million acres.
The heaviest losses were in two
Idaho forests, the Coeur dAlene,
where over billion board feet OF
timber are reported killed or de-
stroyed and over $50 thousand acres
burned over. and the Clearwater,
where l billion feet of timber were
killed or destroyed and 300 thousand
ceres burned over. on the Helena
National Forest, in Montana. the loss
in timber is believed to have been
800 million feet, on the Cabinet for
est 400 million, and the Lolo forest
800 million.
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 extend
ing in a northwesterly and south
easterly direction from north of Wal
lace, Idaho, to a point some 80 miles
southwest Of Missoula Mont, or near
ir 100 miles. At its widest point this
Iog a Ntrf1 90 al A
but its shape is very irregular.
1t was really a union of a num-
Der 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 a very inaccessible 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 1t drove the fires up
on the parties which We're hewing a
way towards them, forced these par
ties to seek refuge wherever it could
be found and swept down upon the
forests where the fires were up to
that time generally well in hand. The
extensive losses are ascribed 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 equip
ped for controlling fires the results
achieved are regarded as n demon
stration of the efficiency of the fire
fighting methods employed, even
under highly adverse natural condi-
tions.
Forester Graves believes that, as
usually happens in the case of big
fires, there will be found to be con-
siderable areas of living timber with
in the regions now mapped as entire
t. burned over. or necessity the fig
Cres given are tentative, for 1t has
been impossible to examine all the
burned areas thoroughly. As fast as
possible, however. the forest officers
are locating and estimating the bod
les of timber killed but capable of be-
ing numbered, If taken in time. There
will be an enormous quantity of fire
killed timber, both on the National
Forests and on private lands, to be
disposed of as soon as possible since
if not marketed quickly 1t will not
be worth cutting at all.
The Department of Agriculture
will push vigorously to dispose OF the
fire-killed timber AS with all other
National Forest timber it will be sold
on the stump, to millmen who will
lumber the land, paying a set price
per thousand board feet for the tim
ber, and conforming to whatever re-
gulations are stipulated in the inter-
est of the forest. Pending the dis
posal Of this fire-killed timber, fu-
ture sales of green timber from the
National Forests which were badly
burned last summer will probably be
greatly restricted, IL not entirely sus-
pended.
Since the amount to be disposed OF
is doubtless greater than can be mar
keted in any event, and since 1t is
better for the country that the timber
should be utilized than that II 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. Gen.
orally speaking, Secretary Wilson
does not regard 1t as n wise public
POLICY to sell off the National Forest
timber except when 1t is in reason
ably good demand, for the country is
sure to need the supply badly later
on. But with the fire-killed timber
it is case of now or never. Conse-
quently there is an unusual opening
for lumbermen who are ready to buy
National Forest stumpage at bargain
prices
How much of the billion feet
which was either killed or burned up
in Montana and northern Idaho can
eventually be salvaged it is of course
impossible to predict. II it were all
o total loss, and If its stumpage val
ne were put at the average price at
! which National Forest timber was
sold last year, it would be the equiv
alent of money loss of about fifteen
million dollars.
1t is believed that last summers
fires either burned UP or killed be-
| tween one and two per cent of the to-