Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1915-05-07
FOREST FIRES !!
WARNING NOTICES FOR FREE DIS
TRIBUTION, BY THE STATE
FORESTER, CHARLOTTES-
WILLIE, VA.

FORESTER, CHARLorTEs-
WILLIE, VA.
The State Forester is inaugurating
campaign against fires in the woods,
lin which all citizens are asked to join.
The enormous annual destruction by
forest fires in Virginia should no
longer be tolerated, and movement
lis now on foot to bring about
rational solution OF the fire problem.
The first step is to get warning notices
into the hands of people who have
timberand TO protect or who wish to
put them up for the good OF the
Cause. These notices are OF three
different kinds. and are printed In
large letters on heavy cardboard, for
posting indoors 10 stores, postoffices,
Observation-Disclosures, etc., and on cloth
for posting outdoors, along the roads
and paths in woods, ETC., where any
one travelling through the woods
| would see them. They explain the
oeole laws. WulEu are SbIiCe, obO Soi
upon all citizens to be careful not to
start fire, and to put out, if possi-
BILE, any that they may find burning.
$500, 600 DAMAGE EVERY YEAR IN
VIRGINIA
1t is estimated that forest-fres burn
up $500, 600 worth of property each
year, on the average, in Virginia.
With the mature timber being rapidly !
cut off and worth several times what |
it was few years ago, ave are
evidently approaching timber
famine. Our only salvation is to
take care of the young growth, and |
keep out fire, which can in few mo-
ments destroy the growth of years.
Already vast stretches Of land, par
ticularly in the moutains, have been
burned over SO that they are now
covered with nothing but brush, and
are practically barren waste, worth
nothing to anybody And every time
such lands are burned over, the
sprouts become weaker, and the soil
becomes poorer and thinner. The
decaying leaves and twigs, the humus
that makes soil fertile, is entirely
burned up. Consequently when a
heavy rain falls there is nobhing to
hold the soil. and it washes away and
fills up the rivers and harbors with
silt. This silt has to be dredged out
at an expense of millions of dollars
every year,. But the rough, stony,
or poor land viii produce crops of
timber, If fires are kept out.
HOW CATTLE-RANGE IS INJURED BY
FIRES.
There is an impression in some Sec
tons that fires improve the cattle
range, and many fires are set out in
other peoples woods by men who
want free range for their stock and
think burning the woods viii improve
the range This is all wrong from
every stand point In the first place
no one has any more right to set FIRE
to some one else's woods than to his
house of barn, and in the second
place the range is injured and not i'm
proved. Fires bum up the litter en-
the ground, and the decaying leaves
and other plant material which con-
stitute the hamus. 1t is this humus
that makes the soil black. fertile and
porous. Without it, trees and grass
cannot get enough food and moistur
from The soil TO make good growth
The good grasses starve for lack of
food and water, and what is left makes
very poor range.
WHAT IS TO BE DONE ABOUT IT?
It would take too much space to
describe how game animals and game
birds and song birds that are busy
all day long 6evourirg injurious
insects are killed or driven away by
forest fires, and how the springs aid
streams are drying up and low water
and ireshets beth becoming more
severe IS result of furest-fres. The
question is, What can be done about
il? The State of Virginia is looking
for solution OF the problem and al
ready has laws providing fine or i'm
prisonment for setting fire to anyone
else's WOODS. 1t is also illegal to
burn brush without taking all posi-
BILE precaution against the spre I'd of
the fire, and redress can be obtained |
by anyone injured by such fire
Logging and Railroad locomotives.
sawmills, ETC., are required to carr!
sufficient spark arresters And Forest |
w ardens may be commissioned by
the Governor to enforce the fire laws,
under The direction of the State For
ester, and TO fight fires, etc. "A copy
of he fire laws will be sent free on
request to tine State Forester, Uni
versity of Virginia, Charlottesville, |
Va But unfortunately there has
not yet been any money appropriated
with which TO pay ardens for en-
forcing the laws and fighting fires.
The next Legislature is expected to
come to the rescue in this emergency
and make it possible to have an effect
tive Interpretation organic stion. In
the meantime much good can be ac-
complished by putting up warning
notices and spreading knowledge of
the fire laws and arousing interest in
fire prevention These notices can be
secured free of charge fro m the State
Forester, at Charlottesville, Va.