Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1933-04-16

aneao alone. Iney must De SUPERVISED
by experienced woodsmen.
Disease control, too, is of prime i'm
portance. For example, there is white
pine blister rust which preys on the
white pine forests in New England and
the Northern Rocky Mountain region
This is a fungus disease, of the type
known as an alternate host disease. It
first infectS currant and gooSeberry
bushes growing wild in the forest, and
from these it spreads to neighboring
pines. The remedy is to remove the
bushes from the vicinity of the pines
and destroy them.
Then there is insect control Numer-
GUS species of beetles burrow into the
bark, and If unchecked would devastate
the entire forest. These must be eradi-
Gated, either by stripping the bark from
the trees, or in certain severe cases.
spraying the bark with fuel oil, and
then setting fire to it. Another insect
that preys particularly on the forests
Of the East is the gypsy moth. This,
too, must be destroyed, or the forest
will be-
Another primary step in fire prOtec-
ton is the construction of fire lines.
These consist of cleared strips from 20
to 100 feet wide, depending on local con-
ditions, which are kept free of inf1am-
mable matter to prevent the passage of
fires. In some cases, especially in tim
berland where there is heavy growth
of grass, two lines are built about 100
feet apart and the area between them
is burned over
These cleared strips in the forests are
comparable to the various lines of de-
tense in war. In case it is necessary to
start backfire to subdue a conflagra-
ton, these lines serve as a base for
operations.
This vast forest army also will be
available for work on State-owned for
eStS under cooperative agreements with
the States. In some cases. under an
amendment recommended by the Forest
Service, work will he done even on pri-
vately owned lands where such work
entails public benefit as well as a pri-
vate benefit to the owner of the timber.
Examples of this are in fire protection
service, disease control, and in preven-
ton and control of soil erosion.
The deStructivenesS of water on de-
nuded areas is a subject not generally
understood. In case of heavy rainfall
on a barren slope, the water quickly is
drained of, and because very little is
absorbed and retained by the soil, the
surface waters soon reach destructive
proportions, carrying away large
amounts of soil. However, when SINH
lar rainfall occurs in a foreSted area,
much of the water is absorbed into the
soil and gradually released over period
of weeks or months into neighboring
shrubs in order to rehabilitate areas of
excessive erosion will be an important
part of the program.
OF course, there will be many other
tasks around the camps that will be far
afield from forestry. In signing up men
for fire fighting, forestry officers are
careful to find out if a man has any
speciality. If he is familiar with explo-
Sives, he becomes invaluable in fighting
fires when dynamiting is necessary. If
he can cook, that may become his job.
So, too, in these new camps the man
who knows carpentry, or who can cut
hair, or understands electrical wiring,
undoubtedly will be utilized at the task
in which he Is proficient. It is entirely
likely that former Office workers who can
operate typewriters or keep books may
be utilized at similar tasks.
THIS leads up, naturally, to another
~ question: what kind of men will be
recruited into these camps?"
Forest officials declare thereu be men
from all walks of life. Many of them,