Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1910-09-02
PREVENTING FOREST FIRES
Continued from Page 1.)

without encountering numerous
signs showing that almost all of the
timber land, excepting in moist |
gulches or ravines and high damp
basins, has been very severely burn
ed over at various times in the past |
This point is mentioned merely to
show that bad fires, especially in |
the mountains of the Siskiyou ma
tional forest, have occurred in years
past and that they were not system
atically controlled for the good of
the large timber, as claimed, but
that during occasional extra dry
years, such as the present, they did
untold damage. Although it is not |
likely that much attention was given
to the controlling of fires some years
ago, it is also true that the present
causes of fires, such as the clearing
of land, hunters camp fires, sparks |
from locomotives, donkey engines,
etc., and the universal use of the
match in smoking or for incendiary
purposes, were not nearly so numer-
GUS. In other words there is no evil
dence on the ground that forest fires
were ever systemically handled
to the benefit of the forests dur
ing the time Of the Indians or early
white man, while fire causes have
now become a great deal more nu-
merous.
The primary object Of true for
estry is, of course, continued forest
production When timber is mature
it should be utilized in such man
ner as to permit Of the reproduction
of a new stock to take its place. This
is impossible without protection
from forest fires, and the more per-
feet the protection the better the
reproduction.
In old stands of rather open tim
ber on fairly level lands, such as are
found in the pine districts of south
eastern United States, where the
timber is held in private ownership
and no value is given to the young
growth and seedlings, an annual or
periodic burning OF the litter by sur
face fire is quite often practiced.
This procedure, although 1t has re-
suited in retarding the reproduction
of the forest by killing off young
growth and seedlings in their ten
der stage, is justified in the case OF
the private owner who can not furn-
ish absolute fire protection through
proper patrol, but only on selected
areas. The Forester, Henry S.
Graves, in a recent forest service
bulletin. No. 50, entitled Protection
of Forests from Fire" gives six con-
siderations bearing on the use of fire
in this way:
1. It should never be used except
where absolute fire prevention can
not be assured and there is real dan
ger resulting from heavy leaf litter
9. It should be used only in
stands in which there Is no reproduc-
tion that 1t is desired to conserve.
3. It should be used only where
the benefit in fire protection more
than offsets the injury to the soil
resulting from repeated burnings.
4. 1t should be used only with
very fire-resisting species.
3. II should be used only when
the trees are old and large enough to
have developed the corky bark ne
cessary for resistance to the heat OF
fires.
6. II should be used only when
the fire can be controlled.
In southern Oregon, an annual or
periodic burning over of the national
forests for the protection OF the tim
Der is absolutely impractical for
numerous reasons. In the first
place the topography is so irregular
that no matter how carefully
handled when fire would travel at
one point on a slope or ridge 1t
would not burn at all at another
point. or IL later in the season II
would be n slow travelling surface
fire on a moderate slope, II would
be an uncomfortable contlagration
at a sleeper or more exposed point
killing not only young growth ou'
mature timber as well and doing
great injury to the soil In the sec
md place our stands of even agec
mature timber where but little re
production is desired are extremel!
limited in extent, in fact almost ao
so,utely wanting, and where we az
find fairly continuous stands OF ma
ture timber over any appreciaol'
area, we also find that due to the al
most complete canopy the shade
TOO dense for the heavy production
Of either seedlings or brush, an