Evening star., 1948-04-06
Dixie Forest Fires
Costly Confagratons in the South Often Are Set by
Cattlemen and Others Deliberately
By George A. Macdonald,
nee, United States Detarfmenf of A aricnIfur.
Forest Service. Unif,

Motorists travelling Dixie highways this sea-
son OF year usually run into q rash of smoky
forest fires Along the road, fine forests Of
young trees alternate with stretches of dry.
brown grass from which the trees were logged.
and, because of poor cutting practice in the
first instance and subsequent repeated fires,
did not grow back. ALI in all, it's beautiful,
pleasant country, but the fires and smoke are
disquieting. To many frst-time traveller 1t
must seem the whole countryside is unaccount-
ably on the verge Of burning up
Time after time for example in a drive down
the Atlantic Coast and along the Gulf of
Mexico, the smoke from forest fires is likely to
be so thick In some areas that the motorist is
forced to feel his way through, with headlights
on as though it were night. The tension he
develops isn't quieted when, as frequently hap
pens, he suddenly sees looming up In the smoke
directly ahead scrawny range COW and he has
to come to full stop to avoid hitting the lack
adaisical critter. Forest fires spread rapidly in
the heat Of the late afternoon, new outbreaks
springing up on all sides as If in response to
signal.
Even more significant than the fires them
selves is the fact that almost all Of them are
set by people, relatively few by lightning. State
and Federal foresters say that in the eight
States facing the Atlantic and the Gulf-that
is, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida,
Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas
there occurs annually an average Of $4,000
fires and that all but 2 per cent of them are
man-caused and, therefore, can be classed as
preventable.
The damage done by these fires is something
to wonder at. For the Nation as q whole, 1t
is estimated that forest fires do about $32,000,-
nn &J,se Inre ,J,n =
100000 is sustained by these eight Southern
States. Or to put 1t another way, forestry
statistics show that the annual timber loss re-
sulting from forest fires in these same States
is estimated to be about 100000 cords. Since
one cord of Southern pine will make three
fourths of ton Of pulp and since the United
States consumes about 100000 tons of news
print year, these Dixie fires burn up annu-
ally almost one-third as much timber as is
required for the production of all the news
print we use. This huge loss certainly reflects
the tremendous natural capacity of the region
for growing trees, because In spite OF 1t the
area still remains one of our top timber pro-
ducers. But it also strikingly points up the
importance, not only to the South, but to the
pulp and lumber hungry Nation as well, OF ex-
panded and improved forest fire protection in
the South.
Economic Determinism" In Practice.
AS to who sets the 98 per cent of the forest
fires in these States that are man-caused, the
range cows which the traveller frequently en-.
counters on the road have much to do with 1t.
Grazing cattle on any unfenced land, regard
less Of ownership, has been generally &C
cepted custom in the Deep South for long
while So much is this so that when an owner
of previously unfenced land decides to grow
timber and puts up fences to bar hogs and
cattle, the chances are he very soon will find
the barriers have been cut down so the cattle
can get in again to Craze. Another time-
honored practice Of the cattlemen has been
deliberately to burn the woods, likewise with
out particular regard to ownership. They DO
this because fire gets rid Of last years dead
grass and pine needles and following the blaze,