Bogalusa enterprise and American. (Bogalusa, La.) 1918-19??, 1922-08-31
Am I The Keeper Of
Ny Brothers Forest
By Rene Dnbourg, Vaudeville, La.

our taxes? A tremendous problem
awaits our solution: What steps can
be taken to further foIest growth on
this waste land and to aid the main
tenance of the present virgin forests
that their productive value may be
! permanent asset?'"
"Reforestation in St. Tammany
does not necessitate planting a tree
for every one that is cut down. With
the pine, all the help that nature
needs is the prevention of the evils
which hinder the termination of
seedlings and the growth of young
trees. Before men lived in what is
now our parish, nature was cease
lessly planting new forests to replace
those that were dying; seeds were
distributed by the wind and other
agents. AS the pine seed is about
the size of a grain of rice, and is
winged, it will travel several miles in
gale of wind. If every young tree
could mature, a shortage of lumber
would be impossible, but the trees
at a young age are hindered and
choked bv fire. This destruction has
become a matter of annual occur
renee; never does a season go by but
that many small trees are ruined.
"In 1917 an eceedingly large for
est fire ragged for weeks. A vast
acreage Of something near 279, 900
acres was covered with fire and both
mature and infant forests were in
jured The damage to virgin tim
Der apprOximated S6S,310.00, while
-
648.0O. This fire was the most dis
astrous Of many years, although III
1916 occurred a considerably large
fire, the loss being about two-thirds
Of that Of 1917. Fires burn almost
every year, in general causing only
slight damage to the mature trees,
but great injury to the young growth,
often completely destroying it.
ITO thoroughly understand forest
fires and their prevention, it is first
necessary to know their causes. There
are many agencies which start forest
fires. The common carriers of the
state and the parish, principally rail
roads, are responsible for a few of
the fires that occur. Careless hum
tiers, campers and trappers have
part in this destruction. It is un-
sportsmanlike for these men to set
fire to a brush or thicket merely for
driving out the game, and very little
is gained, for the hunted bird or ami
NAL is driven into the deep swamDs, |
almost out of reach of even the ex-
pert hunter; but nevertheless this is
done very often; camp fires uninten-
tionally left burning may spread fires |
over a vast acreage. This is very |
frequent origin of conflagration in
st. Tammany parish. Occasional
started by carelessly dropping in a |
forest lighted match, cigarette butt,
cigar stubs or live pipe ashes by per-
sons travelling through the wooded |
sections. Boys playing with matches
in woods will sometimes start these
fires. Again, live sparks from char
coal burners will fly into the sur
rounding woods, thus starting a fire.
A more important cause of fires is
offered by turpentine operators and
loggers. To clear the ground and
enable the operation to be unim-
peded, the wOrkmen set fire to the
woods for the purpose of burning
away trash and undergross. The mis-
taken belief of stockmen and farm
ers that the burning of grass i'm
proves its quality is a most important
cause: in truth, it cannot be denied
that the grade of the grass is i'm
paired. These fires tend to injure
the growth of carpet grass, which is
widely distributed in the parish and
which makes excellent pasture lands,
longer than any other kind
If grass. The switch cane is killed,
he soil impoverished and the land is
'uined because the humus is thor
)ughly destroyed.
Underlying the other reasons, the
greatest, most important and signifi-
ant cause of forest fires in our par
sh is the attitude of St. Tammany
citizens in general. Otter a patrol
nan passes through a section of
Woodland and makes sure that there
S no fire; yet, a few hours later the
Whole area is in flames. How treach-
rous it seems on the part of the peo-
lie who wait until the patrolman has
made his round and then deliberately
ct fire to the grass or leaves! Why
10 they do this? Residents of
carcely middle age remember the
avs when piney woods were consid-
red worthless and, in general, were
egarded as a nuisance. Many of
ur people do not yet realize the
hange in conditions; they have not
to the fact that St. Tam
lany depends largely upon these pine
ands for her prosperity, that any
orce which Injuries these pine lands
ljures each of her citizens. From
irect conversation with residents,
re have found the earlier idea of
inc lands still alive; approximately
fifty per cent of the people have not
ne slightest knowledge concerning
ne Importance of the forests or their
by fire. If the people
o not realize the value of the forest
nd the damage done to them bv fire,
ow can we expect them to aid either
or the control and pre-
ention of forest fires. Again we
ace indifference on the part of many
no are better informed: they con-
der the situation alarming and bad,
ut they expect the other fellow to