Albuquerque evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1911-1914, 1913-05-09
FOREST SERVICE POIACY
OUTLINED BN MIR. pIot' Il


one of the principal features of the
morning session OF the Good Roads
convention today WIS the speech bN
a. - Peck associate forester. OF the
United states forest service Mr. Peck
explained In detail the methods Of
~. forestry IN cooperating with the
1 county nud State AMI told at the dis
iribution of forest earnings by tho
state
Mr. Peek spoke In pnrt as follows.
Your committee has honOrod me
by requesting That I talk on the road
WORK which tne forest service Is doing
w the national forests of New Mexico.
/, am VERY glad. both as a member of
this association and az q memDer OF
tho forest SERVICE. 10 have This oppor-
tunify a. show you FIRST the obligations
which rest on the service to build
roads and trails and the necessity for
this work, nnN second 40 aescribe the
way ID WiIirhht goes about a.
The ehie3 business ui the forest
service. enjoined upon IL by law. ~
protct tion-pTotectiou of the timber
FOR its futnrc intrinsic value and pro-
lection OF the sources uf wafer supply
by protecrirg and preserving forest
groves IA the headWaters OF streams
TIE greatest natural enemy OF the
[ lorest is fire and Ia ia AGAINST FIRE that
u
/ public or private. must provide profec-
ton as complete as possible. in order
10 maze the prospective future value
| Of the Investment worth anything a.
! att The hrst essential In fire pro-
lection Is 10 get men on the ground
for patrol and Tor lighting fires when
they occur. Tho important factors in
this are communication and transEor-
tatlon.
! Congress annually makes special
appropriation for permanent improve
ment work on the national forests
Usually from $50. 10 100000 u
year is spent on Improvement work la
| District 3. Of which New Mexico forms
"a large part Possibly 80 per cent
Of this amount IL annually spent on
telephone lines, roads and trails In
this district. owing 60 the open char
| acter 81 much of our timber land.
! communication has been considered
more important than the providing Of
1 transportation facilities, thus far. since
l ID bias been possi Die To get men 10 all
most ans point I'm the m0uutains. pro-
Nidcd you can communicate with
! them About 1900 miles of telephone
/ line had been constructed in the dis
| trict up 90 July of last year These
| connect lookout stations with forest
officers headquarters and ceuters ~
! population. su that men can be- se-
! cured quickly for hre lighting n IS
/ anticipated that about SEQ miles more
telephone tine will very nearly COM
| plete a good system of communication
IN this district. Therefore. especial
attention is now being paid "a the Inn
] proNcmCnt of transportation facilities
| "Most of the work thus Tar has been
4 put 0n trails. since funds available
| Viii produce more miles 81 trails than
! 81 road and furthermore. because %
| is possible to build trails into the most
! Inaccessible regions where N would be
/ foolish 90 construct roads and it be-
| these reasons which IL is of nrst i'm
porianCe 10 open up. our records
| show that about l. 100 miles of trail
have thus far been built Tea the district
! and 1915 miles of road. in addition Co
this there IN q large mileage of trail
! which has been improved and made
| passable hy little work here and
there which u done hy the IRE patrol
men during wet periods OF few days
az time when ID Is not necessary
that they watch for fires.
1.-The forest service standard OF trail
building claselneF trails into three
| kinds first. those that arc likely to
| De- improved into wagon roads az some
! future time. such trails are Kept be-
] low grade Of y per cent. trails Of
second Importance are kept below a.
| kfhun or ~ per cent ana even the
short stretches 81 trail needed 90 go
20 lookout points in Inaccessible places
are kept below rs per cent so Tar as
possible. The standard toward which
the service Is working IN ~ miles of
road or trail 10 each township or
course. this is not necessary in regions
! like tho Geronimo plateau which can
I BE- ridden over iu any direction With
1 ont roads ~ b. proposed tO eventual
/ Isl build sufficient roads SO that no
pola' on national forest VIII he
mote than az miles away nom "a
| road in this why supplies lcft at
! the end OF road ar my point on 10
F. eau 90 carried By pack train whore