THE PROTECTION OF THE NATIONAL FORESTS
The resources of the National Forests may be injured or destroyed in
many ways. Fire may burn the timber and young growth; insects and tree
diseases may damage or kill timber, and certain persons may innocently
or willfully commit trespass on National Forest land and use the
resources without permit. Then also, the fish and game of the Forests
must be protected from unlawful shooting and trapping, and the water
issuing from National Forest streams must be kept free from pollution,
to protect the public health.
PROTECTION FROM FIRE
_Forest Fire Danger on the National Forests._ Practically all the
resources of the National Forests are subject to severe injury or
even to entire destruction by fire. It is an ever-present danger on
the National Forests, due to their great inaccessibility, their dry
climate, and to other unfavorable conditions. There are probably few
forest regions in the world where the danger of fire is greater than
on the National Forests. The great size of the individual Forests,
as compared with the size of the available patrolling force, the
difficulty of reaching remote areas across miles of wilderness, the dry
air and light rainfall in most parts of the western United States, the
prevalence of lightning storms in the mountains, the sparseness of the
population, and the constant use of fire in the industries and the daily
life of the people, all combine to make the hazard exceptional.
_Importance of Fire Protection._ Forest fires when uncontrolled mean
the loss of human lives, the destruction of homes, live stock, forage,
timber and watershed cover. Besides the direct damage to the National
Forest resources it defeats all attempts to practice forestry; it
nullifies all efforts of forest management, such as regulation of
cutting to insure a second crop of timber, the planting of denuded
areas, and the restriction of grazing to assist reproduction. Fire
destroys the very improvements which are constructed annually at great
expense. In other words, protection from fire is the first and most
important problem on the National Forests without which no operation or
transaction, however small, can be undertaken.
If the problem of fire protection is the most important task confronting
a Forest officer on the National Forests, then certainly fire prevention
is next in importance. Obviously it is easier to prevent fires than
to fight them. All large conflagrations have their origin in small
fires which if they could be reached in time could probably be put out
by one man. But in regions remote from water and supplies fires may
start and reach vast proportions before a party of fire fighters can
get to the scene, no matter how promptly the start is made. By far the
best plan, therefore, is to prevent fires rather than to depend upon
fighting them after they get started. To this end the Forest Service has
given the most earnest consideration. During the dangerous season the
main attention of Forest Supervisors and Forest Rangers is devoted to
preventing fire. Extra men are employed, the Forests are systematically
patrolled, and a careful lookout is maintained from high points. Roads
and trails are so built that every part of the Forests may be quickly
reached with pack animals. Tools and food for fire fighters are
stored at convenient places. The Ranger stations and lookout houses
are connected with the office of the Forest Supervisor by telephone,
so that men may be quickly assembled to fight a dangerous fire which
the patrolman cannot subdue alone. Each Forest Supervisor endeavors to
secure the coöperation of all forest users in the work of preventing
fires and in reporting and helping to fight them in case they get
started.
Probably the beginning point of any discussion of forest fires is a
consideration of their causes. The Forest Service has kept careful
records year after year (by calendar and not fiscal years) concerning
the cause, the damage, the area burned over, the cost of fighting and
many other matters. During the calendar year 1917 there were 7,814
forest fires on the National Forests. Of these the National Forests of
California had to contend with 1,862. Of the total number of forest
fires 40 per cent. were confined to less than 1/4 of an acre, 28 per
cent. to less than 10 acres, while 32 per cent. spread over areas
greater than 10 acres. The large percentage of small fires shows how
efficiently the National Forest fire protection organization works in
keeping the area burned over to the lowest possible acreage.
_Causes of Forest Fires on the National Forests._ Forest fires on the
National Forests originate in many different ways. In 1917, lightning
caused 27 per cent.; unknown agencies, 17 per cent.; campers, 17 per
cent.; incendiaries, 12 per cent.; railroads, 13 per cent.; brush
burning, 7 per cent.; saw mills, 3 per cent., and all other causes, 4
per cent. Thus it will be seen that a very large percentage, at least
60 per cent., of the fires are attributable to human agencies and
are therefore preventable. At least 27 per cent, of the fires, those
attributed to lightning, are not preventable, and the only way to combat
those is for the Forest officer to get to them as soon as possible after
they get started. The preventable fires, however, may be arrested at
their source, that is, by popular education dealing with the use of fire
in the woods these causes can be greatly reduced and, in time, no doubt,
eliminated. Therefore, the fire protection problem immediately resolves
itself into two almost distinct phases of action--fire prevention and
fire control.
[Illustration: Figure 34. A forest fire lookout station at the summit of
Mt. Eddy. Mt. Shasta in the background, California]
Just how these various agencies start fires may be of interest.
Railroads cause fires by their locomotives sending out sparks through
the smokestack or dropping hot ashes along the right-of-way. These
sparks alight in inflammable material, such as dry grass and leaves,
and start a fire. Lightning sets fire to trees, especially dead and dry
ones. In the California mountains, lightning storms without rain are
frequent and these do great damage. The author has seen as many as nine
forest fires started by a single lightning storm inside of half an hour.
Incendiary fires are set by people with varying intent. How many are set
with malicious intent, just to see the forests burn, is not known, but
many fires are started by people setting fires to drive game, to improve
the pasture, to make traveling through the woods easier, or for other
reasons. Brush burning includes those fires which start from settlers
clearing land and burning the brush and thickets. Campers cause a large
percentage of the fires by leaving their camp fires burning. Instead
of extinguishing them before they leave camp, careless people let them
burn; a wind blows a few sparks into some dry leaves or grass nearby,
and the fire is started. Many forest fires also start around logging
camps by sparks escaping from logging engines, or by setting fire to
the slash that is left after logging and allowing these fires to get
beyond control.
_Behavior of Forest Fires._ Fires behave differently, once they get
started, depending upon the character of the timber, the amount of wind,
and the degree of inflammability of the forest cover. Ground fires burn
the inflammable dry grass, needles, dead twigs, etc., on the ground;
crown fires are much more severe and, being usually fanned by a heavy
wind, run through the tops or crowns of the trees; brush fires burn the
bushes and dry shrubs from 5 to 10 feet high; timber fires consume the
entire forest--crown, stem, ground cover, and undergrowth--and usually
occur in timber that stands close together.
_Losses by Forest Fires on the National Forests._ The results of forest
fires naturally vary with the kind and intensity of the fire. Crown and
timber fires do the most damage, and ground and brush fires do less.
While the ground fires and brush fires seem to do very little damage to
the valuable timber, still they may greatly reduce the productive power
of the soil and destroy the watershed cover. Severe ground fires may
kill valuable timber by girdling the trees. The great fires of August,
1910, which swept northern Idaho and western Montana destroyed millions
of dollars' worth of timber and 85 human lives, and cost the United
States $839,000 for fire fighting. These were timber fires and they
occurred for the most part in valuable stands of dense timber.
The forest fire losses on the National Forests for the last 9 years
show a very great and gradual reduction of losses due to forest fires.
In 1908, the total loss through fires was $451,188 and in 1909 it was
$297,275. In 1910, the year of the great fires in Montana and Idaho,
there were very heavy losses in timber and human lives, due to an
unusual combination of dry weather and high winds. But in that year
the fire organization was not complete; it had never really been tried
out. In this year the organization received its first severe test, and
while it did the best it could with the available men and equipment,
the situation in Idaho pointed out conclusively the weak points and the
short-comings. The proof of these statements is found in the statistics
of the next 5 years, when the average total loss for 1911 to 1915,
inclusive, was $293,000, and, it must be remembered, several of these
years were equally as unfavorable, so far as dry weather and high winds
were concerned, as the year 1910. During these years, however, the fire
fighting organization had a good chance to be tried out thoroughly; for,
as is quite evident, experience is the greatest teacher in this kind of
work. During the calendar year 1916 the fire losses reached a new low
level, compared to other years, the losses amounting to only $198,599.
In 1917 they were higher.
[Illustration: Figure 35. A forest fire lookout station on the summit
of Brokeoff Mountain, elevation 9,500 feet. Lassen National Forest,
California. Photo by the author.]
[Illustration: Figure 36. Turner Mountain lookout station, Lassen
National Forest, California. This is a 10 ft. by 10 ft. cabin with
a stove and with folding bed, table, and chairs. The forest officer
stationed here watches for forest fires day and night throughout the
fire season. Photo by the author.]
_The Forest Fire Problem Stated._ Having seen a little of the causes,
behavior and results of forest fires on the National Forests, it is
comparatively easy to state the forest fire problem as it occurs on
the National Forests. Briefly stated, it is this: With the funds,
organization and equipment that are available, the aim of the Forest
Service is to keep the area burned over each year (and therefore the
damage done) down to an accepted reasonable minimum. But the problem
is not as easily worked out as it is stated, due, largely, to a great
many uncontrollable and variable factors which cannot be foreseen in
advance, the most important of which are the weather conditions. As
has been said before, there are two general ways of keeping the area
burned over down to an accepted reasonable minimum: either prevent the
fires from getting started (as in the case of those started by human
agencies) or, after they get started, to get to them with men and fire
fighting implements in the shortest possible time after they are found.
The former is called fire prevention, and the latter fire suppression or
control. How the organization of the National Forests solves these two
problems is of the greatest interest.
_Fire Prevention._ The measures employed for fire prevention may be
either administrative, legislative or educative in nature.
The most important administrative measures employed to prevent fire
are those that aim to reduce the amount of inflammable material in
the National Forests. This is done in many different ways. The free
use timber policy enables Rangers to give away much dead timber, both
standing and down. Timber operators cutting on the National Forests are
required by the Forest Service contract to remove dead snags, which are
a fire menace, from the timber sale area. Where there is fire danger,
all slashing resulting from such sales must be burned or otherwise
disposed of. While grazing is usually not considered a measure to
prevent fires, still grass lands that have not been grazed over become
very dry in the fall and are a dangerous fire menace. Wherever it is
feasible, old slash left by lumbermen on private lands adjacent or
near to the National Forests are burned, when the fire can be confined
to a small area. Another administrative measure is the reduction of
the causes of fires by a patrol force. Forest Guards travel along the
highways where there is most traffic and most danger. Their presence
often is enough to remind campers, hunters and fishermen to put their
camp fires out before leaving them. These patrolmen mix with the people
and, if necessary, remind them in a courteous way to be careful to
extinguish their camp fires before breaking camp.
Most of the necessary legislative measures for preventing forest fires
already exist. The National Forest force is seeking merely to obtain
a strict enforcement of existing laws. Railroads are required to use
spark-arresters on their locomotives and to provide for keeping their
rights-of-way free from inflammable material. Logging camps must also
prevent the destruction of National Forest timber by fire by using
spark-arresters on all logging engines. The Forest officers are ever
on the alert for the detection and apprehension of campers for leaving
fires unextinguished and incendiaries for starting fires willfully.
These careless individuals are arrested by them without warrant, either
under the Federal laws, if the fire occurred on National Forest lands,
or under the State law, if it occurred outside of government lands.
Educational measures are for the purpose of educating both the local
forest-using public and the general public who may travel through the
Forests in the careful use of fires in the forests. Forest officers,
especially Rangers, come into personal touch with local residents and
users, that is, the ranchers, stockmen, business men, loggers, campers,
hunters, fishermen and others. Such people are often reminded by
personal appeals by the Forest officers. Most of them have learned by
this time, because of having been called upon to help fight fires at
one time or another, and having gotten a taste of the result of other
people's carelessness. Many written appeals are also sent out by the
Supervisor and are slipped into the envelopes when grazing permits and
other official documents are mailed. One of these written appeals, and
probably the one that has been used most widely, is known as the six
rules for the prevention of fires in the mountains:
1. Matches.--Be sure your match is out. Break it in two before
you throw it away.
2. Tobacco.--Throw pipe ashes and cigar or cigarette stumps in
the dust of the road and stamp or pinch out the fire before
leaving them. Don't throw them into the brush, leaves, or
needles.
3. Making camp.--Build a small camp fire. Build it in the open,
not against a tree or log, or near brush. Scrape away the
trash from all around it.
4. Leaving camp.--Never leave a camp fire, even for a short
time, without quenching it with water or earth.
5. Bonfires.--Never build bonfires in windy weather or where
there is the slightest danger of their escaping from
control. Don't make them larger than you need.
6. Fighting fires.--If you find a fire try to put it out. If you
can't, get word of it to the nearest United States forest
ranger or State fire warden at once. Keep in touch with the
rangers.
Besides these kinds of appeals, many kinds of fire warnings are posted
at conspicuous places along roads and trails to remind the public to be
careful with fire in the Forests.
[Illustration: Figure 37. A fire line cut through the low bush-like
growth of "Chaparral" on the Angeles National Forest, California. This
"Chaparral" is of great value for regulating stream flow. The streams
are used for water power, domestic purposes, and for irrigating many of
the largest lemon and orange groves of southern California.]
[Illustration: Figure 38. A forest officers' temporary camp while
fighting forest fires. Near Oregon National Forest, Oregon.]
An attempt is also made to reach the general public, that is, those
living outside the local communities, but who occasionally travel
through and use the National Forests. Many hundreds of thousands
travel through the Forests every year by automobile or by other
conveyances. These people camp in the Forests, fish, hunt, and enjoy the
cool climate and beautiful scenery. Before they start on their trips,
that is, while they are still in their home towns, and also while they
are on their way, many means have been devised to reach them. They
are confronted with newspaper advertisements, folders, booklets, and
other printed matter. In towns and cities, public meetings, lectures,
exhibits, expositions, county fairs, commercial clubs, and the chambers
of commerce, all help, either directly or indirectly, by one means or
another, to inform the people of the great fire danger on the National
Forests. Even the letters sent out by the District Forester and the
Supervisors have written appeals affixed to the outside of the envelopes
by means of a rubber stamp. In short, every possible means is used to
educate the public that uses the National Forests and in whose interest,
in fact, the Forests are being maintained and protected.
_Fire Suppression._ So much for the problem of fire prevention. In
case a fire does get started, and there are thousands of them on the
National Forests every year, the problem, as has been said before,
consists of getting men and tools to it in the shortest possible time,
in order to keep the damage down to the lowest possible point. To do
this, a vast organization has been formed by the Forest Service, which
is not unlike the Minute Man organization of Revolutionary days. A brief
outline of this organization and how it works when a fire starts will
give my reader a still better idea of what the Forest Service is doing
in forest fire protection. But before speaking of this organization, a
few preliminary matters are of interest; they deal with the manner of
distributing fire protection funds, forest fire history, and the study
of weather conditions.
_How Forest Fire Funds Are Distributed._ It devolves upon the Forest
Supervisor and also the District Forester to apportion the appropriation
allotted for fire protection in the most economical and efficient
manner. First of all, the money is allotted to the various Forests in
proportion to their needs. These needs are measured by the size of the
Forest, the value of its resources, the length of the dangerous dry
season, the fire liability or the amount of money loss in case of fire,
the fire hazard or the degree to which an area is subject to fire
danger, the difficulty of prevention and control and many other factors.
These same factors are employed to apportion the Supervisor's allotment
of money to the various Ranger districts on his Forest.
Probably the most difficult factors for the Forest Supervisor to
appraise on each Ranger district are the fire liability and the fire
hazard. Fire liability has to do with the amount of damage a fire could
do if it got started. Valuable timber needs protection most of all, and
the value of the forest is determined by the kind of trees in it and the
density of the stand. Fire hazard is usually expressed in terms of risk.
The Supervisor asks his Ranger if the risk on a certain area in his
district is high, low, or medium. Risk depends, of course, largely upon
the character and inflammability of the forest cover and the presence of
human causes. Dense forests involve greater risk than open, scattering
trees; government forests interspersed with private holdings containing
much old slash have a high risk factor; and government forests near
sawmills, large towns, and along railroad rights-of-way also have high
risk factors. All these matters must be considered, in order that each
area on each Ranger district gets just enough money for fire protection
and not a bit more.
[Illustration: Figure 39. Putting out a ground fire. Even if the
fire does not burn the standing timber, it kills the young trees and
so weakens the larger ones that they are easily blown over. Wallowa
National Forest, Oregon.]
[Illustration: Figure 40. Forest officers ready to leave a tool box for
a forest fire in the vicinity. Such tool boxes as these are stationed at
convenient places on National Forests ready for any emergency. Arapaho
National Forest, Colorado.]
_Forest Fire History._ Very important also in fire protection are the
studies which the Forest Service is carrying on, dealing with forest
fire history. For many years back, records have been kept on all fires:
their causes, area burned over, date of the fire, damage caused, the
exact location of each fire, the cost of fighting it, the total number
each month and each calendar year, and many other data. More recently
records have been kept upon still further details connected with each
fire, such as: the time elapsed between the start and the discovery of
a fire, between the discovery and the report to the proper official,
between the report and the beginning of the actual work of fighting, and
the time required to put the fire out. Intensive studies have been made
also upon the length and character of the fire season on each Forest,
for it is important to know the maximum length, the minimum length and
the average length of the fire season. These data show how much extra
help must be hired for fire patrol and fire fighting, and during what
periods the greatest damage is done, based both on acreage burned
over and by the number of fires. Studies of this kind yield positive
information on what areas of each Forest are particularly liable to
lightning fires, to camp fires, and to incendiary fires. With this
knowledge the Forest Supervisor can plan and distribute his men and
funds more intelligently; they tell him during what period he can expect
the most trouble, and therefore must have the greatest number of fire
fighters at his command. It is scientific study like this that is doing
more than anything else to solve the fire protection problem in the
Western States.
_Relation of Forest Fires to the Weather._ In coöperation with the
United States Weather Bureau, the Forest Service studies weather
conditions in relation to forest fires. Weather forecasts have been sent
to each Forest Supervisor throughout the fire season, informing him of
the probable weather conditions. The velocity and duration of the wind,
the temperature, the precipitation, and the relative humidity are all
factors which greatly affect the inflammability of the forest. Forest
Supervisors have been informed in these forecasts of what are known as
emergency conditions, that is, an unusual and abnormal combination of
weather conditions which make fire danger very great. These conditions
may be a high wind, low relative humidity, high temperatures, or a
combination of the three. When a Forest Supervisor is informed by the
District Forester that emergency conditions are likely to exist during
the next ten days or so, he immediately sends an alarm to all his
Rangers to be especially watchful.
_Improvements and Equipment for Protection._ After the preliminaries
of fire protection finance, forest fire history, and the study of
weather and emergency conditions have been worked out, probably the
first and most important prerequisite to forest fire protection is a
matter already spoken of, namely, the improvements and the equipment.
The construction and maintenance of improvements and the possession of
suitable equipment is second in importance only to the organization
which is to do the actual fire suppression. Roads, trails, telephone
lines, fire lines, lookout stations, Ranger stations, tool and food
caches, a central supply depot, and many other things are necessary
before men can be effective. Each Forest Ranger has use for the
following equipment: fire fighting tools, water bags and pails, teams,
pack horses, wagons, automobiles, saddle horses, tents, portable
telephone lines, riding and packing equipment, and many other special
equipment, which must be hired when occasion for its use arises. If a
Forest Ranger has not access to this equipment, and few of them have, he
has hanging by his telephone a complete list of all the stores, stables,
garages, etc., in the neighboring towns and how much equipment each can
furnish when called upon.
_Forest Fire Maps and Charts._ Not the least important bit of equipment,
by any means, is the fire map or maps. The Forest Supervisor has a fire
map of his whole forest in his office and the Forest Ranger has one
of his district (sometimes including the neighboring districts, too)
hanging in his cabin, usually posted conspicuously, so that it can be
referred to any time of the day or night without delay. These maps have
upon them all the available information regarding the country which is
to be protected. They show physiographic features, such as topography,
creeks, springs, meadows, water, swamps, etc.; vegetative features, such
as timber, forage, brush, reproduction, planted areas, regenerating
areas, slashings, etc.; such man-made features as roads, trails, cabins,
ranger stations, corrals, pastures, Supervisor's headquarters, sheep
camps, cattle camps, ranches, camp sites, railroads, logging railroads
and camps, sawmills, power plants, towns, villages, etc.; and special
protective features, such as locations of men, tools, equipment, tool
and food caches, local help, emergency help, fire lines, fire breaks,
lookouts, government and private telephone lines, instruments and
switchboards, locations of stores, state Fire Wardens, livery stables,
pack trains, garages, stage routes, etc. All these features and data
are not put upon one map; usually a series of maps are used or some of
the information is put on charts or on the border of the maps. In short
all this information is put in such form that it is available at the
shortest notice for emergency conditions. It makes little difference how
it is recorded, so long as the information is available when needed.
[Illustration: Figure 41. A forest fire on the Wasatch National Forest,
Utah. Forest officers trying to stop a forest fire by cutting a fire
line. Note the valuable growth of young trees which they are trying to
save on the right.]
_Forest Fire Organization._ The forest fire organization, whether it
be on the whole National Forest or upon the Ranger district, consists
of three agencies: the fire detection agencies, the fire reporting
agencies, and the fire fighting agencies. All these must work in
absolute harmony without interruption of any kind, to obtain the maximum
of efficiency. The detection agencies consist of the lookout men,
stationed at high, advantageous points which overlook large areas, and
the moving patrolmen, who are assigned to definite beats or territory
which cannot be adequately reached by the lookouts. Lookout men live in
small cabins on the tops of high mountains, and they watch for fires
constantly. In regions which have very few high points and which are
not suited to that method of detection, moving patrolmen are employed.
These men move about on foot, on horseback, on railroad speeders, in
automobiles, or in any other conveyance adapted to the country they are
in.
When the detectors find a fire they report it immediately to the
nearest Forest Ranger or the Forest Supervisor. The Forest Ranger in
whose district the fire is located is logically the first man to be
informed, but telephone connections and other conditions sometimes alter
this procedure. Just because a fire is found in, we will say, Ranger
district number one, does not necessarily mean that the Forest Ranger
of this district is the proper man to be notified. The fire may be at
the very outer boundary of his district and may be much more easily
accessible to the Forest Ranger in district number two. In any case
it is all arranged beforehand just exactly who shall be notified in
case of a fire in each and every corner of a National Forest. Each man
in the organization has his duties and responsibilities determined for
him in advance and he does his part without being prodded or reminded.
The location of a fire in the wild and inaccessible forest regions of
the West, which may seem a very simple matter, is determined in a very
ingenious manner.
_How Fires Are Located._ The lookout man, as well as the Forest Rangers
and the Forest Supervisor, is provided with identical maps of the
Forest. These maps show most of the important features useful in fire
protection work, including also the private lands, all government
holdings, and the public land survey. This public land survey has
divided the land surface into legal subdivisions known as townships,
sections, and quarter sections, and it is by these and with reference
to these that all features, both natural and artificial, are located. A
township is usually a square 6 miles on a side, containing 36 sections.
Each section is divided into quarter sections containing 160 acres
each, which are further divided (though not by law) into forty-acre
squares. The problem, therefore, that confronts the lookout man upon
the discovery of a forest fire is to inform the Ranger or other Forest
officer where the fire is--that is, in what _section_ it is located, if
it cannot be located with reference to some well-known natural feature.
In order to determine in what section or quarter section a fire is
located, each lookout point on the Supervisor's and Rangers' fire maps
has a transparent circular protractor mounted on it. (A protractor is
a device by which angles are marked off; it consists of a circle upon
whose arc the degrees from 0 to 360 are indicated, 0 degrees being
equivalent to North, 90° to East, 180° to South and 270° to West.)
The center of the protractor is the lookout point. A piece of black
thread is fastened to the center of each lookout point, so that it can
be stretched across the arc of the circle and the degrees read off.
The other end of the thread has fastened to it a thumb tack or similar
device, so that when the thread is stretched to read a certain angle,
it can be fixed at that angle. The maps of the lookout men are usually
fastened or permanently mounted upon a table which is oriented (that
is, the top of the map is turned toward the north). The lookout men
have sighting devices, usually alidades, which are placed on the map, by
means of which they sight at a fire; but the bearing of the fire is read
from the angles marked on the edge of the map, which is in reality a
large protractor.
By these devices a fire is quickly and accurately located. When the
lookout man sees a fire, he gets its bearing from the map by means of
the sighting device. He telephones this bearing to the Ranger, or, in
many cases, to the Supervisor. Immediately the Supervisor goes to his
map, picks up the black thread attached to this lookout point, stretches
the string, and, having marked off the bearing, pushes the thumb tack
into the map. In the meantime, another lookout, perhaps two more, have
sighted the same fire. The black threads from the other lookout points
on the Supervisor's map are stretched and fixed in a similar manner. The
fire will be found to be at the point where two or more of these black
threads intersect. This is only one of the many ways which have been
devised to locate forest fires; there are other methods, but all are
based upon the same principle.
[Illustration: Figure 42. A forest fire running in dense underbrush on
one of the National Forests in Oregon.]
[Illustration: Figure 43. Men in a dense forest with heavy undergrowth
clearing away brush to stop the fire as it is running down hill. Crater
National Forest, Oregon.]
_The Fire Fighting Organization._ The organization of men who do the
actual fire suppression must be an elastic one, adequate to meet
the needs of a Ranger district or of a whole National Forest, or, in
some cases, of an entire administrative district, comprising as many
as 25 to 30 National Forests. The Forest Guards and Forest Rangers are
known as the first line of defense in this war against forest fires.
Upon them falls the brunt of the work of fire suppression. The second
line is composed of local stockmen, ranchers, and logging and sawmill
crews. When these prove insufficient in number, the large villages and
towns are called upon, and the last resort is the labor of the cities
and the United States Army. Thus, in the case of a very large fire the
organization of the Forest Service is modified to cover not only each
and every National Forest, but also entire States. In case of a very
large fire, every available man from each Forest is sent to take his
place in the organization. Expert fire fighters are sent direct to the
fire. Other Forest officers are sent to the large towns and villages
to act as quartermasters. These men hire fire fighters, entrain them,
and fill orders for food, bedding, tools, and other equipment. Other
quartermasters at the scene of the fire check shipments of supplies,
check the time of fire fighters, approve accounts, hire transportation,
and perform similar duties. Special disbursing agents are sent to
the scene to pay the men. In short, everything is done to dispatch
as quickly as possible the necessary men, food and equipment to the
fire, and to do it in accordance with the prearranged plan for such
emergencies.
_Forest Fire Coöperation._ A very important part of the plan of fire
protection on the National Forests are the coöperative agreements
entered into between the Forest Service and private individuals or
companies. Such coöperation may be in the form of building improvements
for fire suppression, furnishing men in case of fire, furnishing
lookouts or patrols, furnishing equipment, and, in fact, in connection
with any of the necessary means for fighting fire. This coöperation has
been of mutual benefit. One National Forest may coöperate with one or
more neighboring Forests or with sawmills, power plants, logging camps,
or railroad companies. Coöperation may also be with a well-organized
Forest Protection Association, of which there are a large number in the
Western States. These coöperative agencies agree to send a large force
of their men to fires on the National Forest in their vicinity, and the
Forest Service reciprocates by sending men for fires occurring on their
lands, which may threaten National Forest timber. Often coöperative
agencies enter into agreement to build jointly with the Forest Service
certain improvements, such as telephone lines, lookout towers, or
trails, which will benefit public fire protection as well as private.
Many sawmills and logging companies who operate on or near the National
Forests have agreements with the Service, by which they suspend all
operations and send all their help to fires which threaten National
Forest timber. All timber sale contracts of the Forest Service provide
for coöperative fire protection.
_Fighting Forest Fires._ The most important requirements for successful
fire suppression are: quick arrival after discovery, adequate forces of
men, proper equipment, thorough organization on the fire line, skill in
attacking, and careful, systematic patrol after the fire is thought to
be out. All fires, whether large or small, require generals to lead the
attacking forces, and the strategy of fire fighting can only be learned
after long experience on the fire line. A cool, level-headed man is the
greatest necessity in an emergency, for it is as disastrous to get too
many men as it is too few. A few men that know how to attack a fire are
worth a great deal more than a great many that are inexperienced.
[Illustration: Figure 44. Fire in a Lodgepole pine forest in Colorado.
Arapaho National Forest, Colorado]
[Illustration: Figure 45. A mountain fire in "Chaparral," five hours
after it started. Pasadena, California]
There are different kinds of fires, depending upon their size, their
intensity, and the nature of the country in which they are burning.
And there are as many different methods of fighting fire as there are
kinds of fires. Some fires, such as grass fires or those burning in
the needles and litter in the forest, can be extinguished directly by
being smothered or beaten out. For this purpose Rangers sometimes use
their saddle blankets, when nothing else is handy, but usually wet gunny
sacks, boughs, and tree branches are used. Often, if it is available,
sand or dirt is thrown on the fire with a shovel. Surface fires are a
little more difficult to extinguish. They are more intense and more
swift and consume brush, young growth, and fallen dry trees. These
usually cannot be attacked directly, but must be controlled indirectly
by the building of a trench or a fire break, or by a system of back
firing. Trenches are fire breaks in miniature, usually from one to
several feet wide. Fire breaks or fire lines are broad belts from 30 to
50 feet wide, which are cleared of inflammable material, not so much
to stop the fire when it reaches this belt as to furnish a safe area
from which fire can be fought and, most of all, from which back firing
can be started. These lines or belts are usually built along ridges. If
a fire starts on the lower slope of a mountain and the wind carries it
up the mountain toward the fire line, the only hope of stopping the fire
at the top of the ridge at the fire line is to start fires on the top
of the ridge, which will burn down the slope and meet the original fire
coming up. In rare cases, as, for instance, in the Idaho fires of 1910,
the fires get to be so large and swift that all methods of attack prove
futile and the only salvation is in natural barriers, such as rivers, or
a change of the wind, or rain, to extinguish them.
In all fire fighting work, the plan is to surround the fire (if it
cannot be beaten or smothered out) by a trench, fire line, or fire
break, and to prevent the fire from spreading. In this kind of work,
shovels, spades, mattocks, rakes, and hoes are used to move the soil;
saws and axes are used to remove fallen trees from the fire line, and in
some cases plows, dynamite, and other implements are employed.
PROTECTION AGAINST TRESPASS, FOREST INSECTS, EROSION AND OTHER AGENCIES
While the protection of the Forest resources from fire is probably the
most important phase of forest protection, it is not the only one by
any means. The National Forest force also protects the Forest resources
from trespass, from insect damages, and from tree diseases. Also water
supply for domestic use, for irrigation, water-power, and navigation
must be protected, and the public health must be safeguarded against
the pollution of the streams emerging from the Forests. It is also the
duty of Forest officers, in coöperation with the state authorities, to
protect game, fish, and birds from illegal practices.
_Trespass._ The Act of June 4, 1897, authorizes the Secretary of
Agriculture to make rules and regulations for the occupancy, use and
protection of the National Forests, and provides that any violation of
such rules and regulations shall be punishable by a fine or imprisonment
or both. This and later acts provide for fines or imprisonment for all
violations of the regulations governing National Forests. The violation
of these regulations constitutes trespass, and these may be either
fire, timber, grazing, occupancy or property trespass, depending upon
the offense. Since the United States has all the civil rights and
remedies for trespass possessed by private individuals, it may bring
action to recover damages resulting from trespass or breach of contract.
Fire trespass includes the following offenses: setting fire to timber,
brush or grass; building camp fires in dangerous places where they
are hard to extinguish; or leaving camp fires without completely
extinguishing them. The various railroads that cross the National
Forests are one of the most frequent offenders in that the sparks
issuing from the locomotives or the hot ashes dropping from the fire box
set fire to National Forest timber. The railroads are required to use
every precaution to prevent such fires, but many of them are started,
resulting in damage suits by the Government. The damages cover not only
the merchantable timber and forage destroyed, but damages are also
collected for young, immature growth, which at first thought might seem
to have little or no value. But the courts have held that while the
young, unmerchantable trees have very little value now, they have a
great value as the basis for a future crop of timber. Thus, in the case
of the United States versus the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad,
in 1910, for fire trespass on the Black Hills National Forest, caused
by sparks from the locomotives operated by the company, the damages
included $17,900 for young growth. Also, in the case of the United
States versus the Great Northern Railroad, in 1911, in which suit was
brought upon the negligence (causing fires to start) of the defendant
company on their right-of-way, which fires subsequently spread to the
Blackfeet National Forest, damages included the destruction of a great
many immature trees, the value of which was estimated on the basis of
their value at maturity discounted to date. It is significant that this
case never went to trial; the defendant paid damages and costs without
argument.
[Illustration: Figure 46. A few years ago this was a green, luxuriant
forest. Picture taken after the great fires of August 20, 1910, on the
Coeur d'Alene National Forest near Wallace, Idaho]
Under timber trespass are included the following acts: the cutting,
killing, girdling, or otherwise damaging trees; the cutting of timber
under sale contract or permit before it is marked by a Forest officer;
the removal of timber before it is scaled, measured, or counted by a
Forest officer; and the fraudulent stamping of any timber belonging
to the United States with the regulation marking tools or similar
device. Under grazing trespass are included such acts as: grazing stock
on National Forest lands without permit; grazing stock on areas which
are designated as closed to grazing; driving stock across a National
Forest without permit; and refusal to remove stock upon instructions
from an authorized Forest officer when an injury is being done to the
National Forests by reason of the improper handling of the stock. The
use of National Forest land without a permit for any purpose for which
special use permits are required constitutes occupancy trespass. But
traveling, temporary camping, hunting, surveying, or prospecting may
be carried on without permit, and camp wood and forage for stock used
in connection with such activities may be taken free of charge. The
unauthorized appropriation, damage, or destruction of property belonging
to the United States, which is used in the administration of the
National Forests, also constitutes trespass.
Innocent trespass is usually settled amicably between the trespasser
and the Supervisor. If the violation of the timber, grazing, or land
regulations was due to a misunderstanding and was not of a willful
character, a permit is issued and the trespasser pays for the timber
or special use, as under regulation. Fire and property trespass cases
seldom can be construed as innocent, hence in most cases such offenses
result in litigation.
_Forest Insects._ Protection against forest insects is carried out
in coöperation with the Bureau of Entomology of the Department of
Agriculture.
An essential part of good forest protection is the work of locating and
reporting evidences of insect depredations. There are scores of insects
which are constantly working in the forests, either injuring or killing
live trees or attacking the wood of trees after they have been killed.
Weevils kill young shoots on trees and destroy tree seeds; bark beetles
and timber beetles infest the bark, girdle the tree and destroy the
wood; and various borers and timber worms attack seasoned and unseasoned
forest products and destroy the wood in the forest after it has been
cut down and sawed into lumber. The greatest annual loss by insects is
caused not so much by conspicuous local outbreaks as in the sustained
annual loss of scattered merchantable trees. Local infestations often
kill a large percentage of trees on an area, but these outbreaks are
easily seen; the scattered infestations that kill a tree or two here
and there over large forest areas are not so noticeable, but, taken all
together, add up to a startling total.
The task of locating and reporting insect infestations falls upon the
Forest Ranger and other field men of the Forest Service. Since the
Rangers are practically the only class of Forest officers that visit
all parts of a National Forest during each field season, the Supervisor
relies mostly on them to report upon insect infestations. In riding
to and from his work, while on fire patrol, while going for mail and
supplies, while attending to the timber, grazing and other business
of his district, the Ranger does a good deal of traveling and covers
practically every part of his district. These are good opportunities to
watch for fresh outbreaks of insects, and the wide-awake, progressive
Ranger never misses such chances. If he sees reddish-brown masses of
pitch and sawdust on the bark of a tree he immediately recognizes it
as the work of insects. Or perhaps he may see a pine or a spruce tree
with all its needles turned yellow. He knows then that this tree was
girdled by bark beetles very recently, probably during the previous
summer. A tree whose needles had turned red would indicate to him that
the infestation was more than a year old, since trees attacked in the
spring of one year usually do not show the results until the following
summer. These two stages are known by the trained entomologist as the
"yellow-top" and the "red-top" stages respectively. The latter is
followed by the "black-top" stage. In this stage, insect infested trees
stand out very conspicuously as leafless, gray or black snags, and they
tell the story of the work of bark beetles that happened years ago.
[Illustration: Figure 47. The first evidence of insect attack are the
reddish brown pitch tubes on the bark. Lodgepole pine infested by the
mountain pine beetle. Lassen National Forest, California. Photo by the
author.]
[Illustration: Figure 48. The last stage of an insect-attacked tree. The
tree is dead and the dry bark is falling off. Lassen National Forest,
California. Photo by the author.]
Probably the first external evidence of the attack of a bark beetle upon
living trees with normal green foliage, is the presence of pitch tubes
upon the outer bark. These are small, reddish-brown (later becoming
grayish-white) masses of pitch and sawdust, which exude from the small
cylindrical entrance made by the adult beetle where it bores through the
bark to begin its egg tunnel. Each tube represents the entrance of one
or more of these beetles. But we must follow these egg tunnels further,
to learn how the actual damage is done to the tree. As soon as the bark
beetle has made its entrance through the bark, it starts to work up
through the live bark and cambium of the tree, forming a tunnel but
little larger than the diameter of the beetle, which is known as the egg
gallery, These egg galleries vary in shape from straight to winding, and
in length from ten to forty inches. As a rule, male and female beetles
work together in one gallery, and the eggs are deposited along the
sides of the gallery, often in little pockets. When the tunneling and
egg-laying process of the adult beetles is completed, their activity
ceases, and they are usually found dead at the upper end of their
galleries. The larvæ hatch and begin their work by burrowing across the
cambium at right angles to the egg galleries. The complete girdling of
the cambium layer is not accomplished until the larvæ have completed
their work, and the numerous larval galleries, by joining one another,
form a complete gallery around the cambium of the tree, thus cutting
off the food supply which is made in the leaves of the tree, from the
lower portion of the tree, namely the roots. Since the roots cannot live
without nourishment, the tree dies. As soon as the larvæ have completed
their development they pupate. Later they develop into adult beetles.
These adult beetles issue forth in swarms the following spring, to
attack new trees.
The control of insect pests is a difficult matter. On areas where insect
depredations are conspicuous and are liable to spread to nearby valuable
timber, control measures are undertaken in coöperation with experts from
the Bureau of Entomology. In these control projects, crews of men fell
the infested trees, strip the bark from them, and burn the bark (usually
at a time of the year when the young broods of beetles are still in the
bark, namely, fall or winter). Trap trees are sometimes resorted to.
In this method, trees are girdled with an ax and thereby weakened to
such a degree that beetles are attracted to it. After such a tree has
become thoroughly infested in this manner, it is cut down and burned. In
the case of a large, conspicuous infestation, an insect reconnoissance
is made, in order to obtain an estimate of the percentage of trees
that have been killed by insects. When it is possible, the timber is
immediately sold. For example, on the Lassen National Forest, the writer
several years ago made such an estimate of an infestation caused by the
mountain pine beetle, covering over 100,000 acres. The reconnoissance
showed that about 35 per cent. of the trees above 12 inches in diameter
had been killed. The killed timber was subsequently utilized for
telephone and telegraph poles.
There are many administrative measures which are practiced on the
National Forests, which aim to prevent insect infestation. The
prevention and suppression of forest fires, which form infection courts
for insects, is probably the most important one. In all timber sales,
old dead snags and slashing, which are breeding places for insects, are
disposed of. Through free use and timber sales, insect-killed timber is
disposed of and the loss due to insects is reduced to a minimum, besides
in many cases destroying the young insect broods.
_Tree Diseases._ In almost every administrative district there is a
Consulting Pathologist, connected with the Bureau of Plant Pathology of
the Department of Agriculture, who has charge of all work dealing with
the eradication of tree diseases.
A tree disease is really any condition that interferes with the normal
functioning of the tree, be this condition caused by fungi, mistletoe,
fumes, smoke, frost, sunscald, drought or excess of water in the soil.
Parasitic fungi and mistletoes cause most of the tree diseases. Leaf
diseases, by killing a greater part of the foliage, destroy the very
organs in which food for the growing tissues is prepared. Diseases
of the bark intercept the flow of food coming down in the bark from
the leaves. Diseases of the sapwood cut off the water supply, which is
pumped upward from the roots. Those that attack the roots also affect
the water supply of the tree. Diseases of flowers and seeds destroy the
faculty of reproduction.
Certain parasites are able to enter the youngest parts of trees, twigs
and leaves directly, but the majority of the fungi causing decay of the
wood can get into the interior of the living tree only by way of a pin
knot or wound. For this reason, every wound caused by lightning, by
fire, by man, or by animals, constitutes a menace to infection. Many
coniferous trees cover their wounds by an aseptic coat of pitch, which
is very effective in preventing the germination and growth of fungus
spores. But the less resinous conifers and the hardwood trees do not
cover their wounds very effectively; large wounds are not covered at
all. Upon exposure by a wound, the sapwood just underneath the bark
dies, dries out, and checks. Spores of parasitic fungi enter the cracks,
germinate and infect the heartwood. The spores of a heartwood-inhabiting
fungus cannot germinate and thrive unless they fall upon the heartwood
of the tree. In this way certain diseases of the heartwood, which
result in rot or decay, can very frequently be traced directly to fire
scars, lightning scars, spike tops, broken limbs or branches, and other
mechanical destruction caused by lightning, fire, storms, cloudbursts,
or heavy snowfall.
Fire as a cause of wounds is responsible for more cases of heartrot than
all other injuries taken together. For this reason the protection of
forests from fire is the most important preventive measure that can be
taken to eradicate tree diseases. In fact, the best way of controlling
diseases is by preventing them, and the Forest officers are endeavoring
to eliminate any danger to the health of the forest, to prevent the
injury of the trees, and to establish healthy conditions for their
growth. This is forest hygiene, and it bears the same relation to the
trees and forests as personal hygiene and community sanitation do to
persons and communities.
It is impossible to grow a sound and thrifty forest for future
generations if there are unhealthful conditions in the forest that are
a constant menace to the trees. The first step in this hygienic work
is close observation on the part of the Forest officers. The next
important step is to prevent the infection and infestation of sound
trees by getting rid of all diseased and insect-infested living and
dying trees. By means of timber sales and free use, Forest officers
very materially help in establishing healthy conditions on the National
Forests. There is a clause in most timber sale contracts which requires
the cutting by the purchaser of all snags and other unhealthy trees
on the area. This measure not only eliminates undesirable trees from
a hygienic standpoint, but it also makes it possible to utilize the
merchantable timber left in undesirable trees, which would otherwise
go to waste. On timber sales, Forest officers who do the marking leave
for reproduction only such trees as are perfectly sound and healthy.
Mistletoe infested trees, especially, are marked for cutting, for
neither in plant nor in animal life can healthy offspring be expected to
develop under unhealthful conditions.
[Illustration: Figure 49. Wrecked farm buildings due to flood of May 21,
1901, Nolichucky River, near Erwin, Tenn. This is one result of denuding
the Appalachian Mountains of their forest cover.]
[Illustration: Figure 50. When steep hillsides are stripped of their
forest growth, erosion results. Erosion has been especially serious in
the Appalachian Mountains. View taken in Madison County, North Carolina.]
_Water Supply._ Undoubtedly the greatest value of the mountain forests
of the West, most of which are within the National Forests, lies in
their influence upon the regularity of the water supply. In many States
these mountains afford the only water supply for domestic use, for
irrigation, and for the development of power. The future development
of the entire region depends, therefore, upon a regular water supply.
It is not so much the amount of water as the manner in which it flows
from the mountains that is important. To insure this regularity, the
vegetative covering is an important factor. For this reason, Congress
made the preservation of conditions favorable to stream flow one of
the principal objects in the establishment and administration of the
National Forests.
Many of my readers who have lived out-of-doors a great deal have learned
by common observation the simple problem of how the forest regulates
stream flow. Any one who has been in a treeless region after a heavy
rainstorm can recall how suddenly the streams swell and flood their
banks, and how soon these same streams return to their former flow. On
the other hand, a severe rainstorm in a forested region will hardly have
an appreciable effect upon the streams. The difference is not very hard
to explain. In a treeless region there are no natural obstacles which
might delay or prevent the raindrops from reaching the ground. The soil
is usually hard and dry, and the water runs off as though from a gable
roof. In a forest, we well know, the crowns of the trees intercept
most of the rain that falls; very little strikes the ground directly.
The rain that strikes the crown is dissipated on the leaves or needles,
on the twigs and branches, and on the trunk. It must travel a long way
before it reaches the ground, and all this delay helps in preventing a
rapid run-off or flood. The soil in the forest is covered by a living
ground cover of flowers, shrubs and young trees, and by a dead cover
composed of leaves, twigs, dead branches, fallen trees, all of which
interrupt the raindrop's journey to the ground. Even after the rain
reaches the ground, only a small part of it goes off as surface run-off.
The soil in the forest is loose and full of holes and channels made by
decaying roots, earth worms, etc., so that the water is absorbed as fast
as it reaches the soil. Also the soil in the forest contains a large
amount of organic matter, resulting from decaying leaves and branches,
and this organic matter acts as a great sponge, because it is capable of
holding several times its own weight of water. As a result of the living
and dead ground cover, the crown cover, and the organic matter in the
soil, the rainfall is fed to the streams gradually through weeks and
months, instead of a few hours, and the nearby rivers have a steady,
equable flow, instead of alternate stages of floods and low water.
Closely bound up with the protection of watersheds is the erosion
problem. Without a forest cover, rain runs off mountain slopes very
rapidly, often carrying with it silt and sand, and, in severe floods,
even rocks and bowlders. A well known physical law states that the
carrying capacity of a stream increases as the sixth power of its
velocity. In other words, double the velocity of a stream and you have
multiplied its carrying power by 64; increase its velocity ten times,
and you multiply its carrying power by a million. The delay caused by
the forest cover in each raindrop's journey down a mountain side not
only prevents floods, but also preserves the fertility of the fields in
the valleys below.
Many streams in the West carry such enormous amounts of silt that the
storage capacity of reservoirs has been seriously impaired, even within
a comparatively short time. Then, also, there is the added difficulty
and expense of keeping the diversion works--the ditches and canals--free
from an excess of this material. Studies which have been carried on to
determine in what way the administration of the National Forests can
keep the destructive processes of erosion at a minimum have shown that
the balance between the stability of the soil and rapid erosion on many
slopes is so delicate that only a slight abuse may result in complete
loss of the fertile top soil and permanent changes in the character of
the vegetation.
In August, 1909, the town of Ephraim, on the Manti National Forest,
Utah, experienced a disastrous flood from Ephraim canyon, which was
attributed in part to the overgrazed condition on the watershed. An
examination made the next spring clearly demonstrated that the severity
of the flood was a direct result of deterioration of forest, brush,
and grass cover, due to overgrazing during a long period of years.
The canyon was therefore closed to grazing as an immediate protective
measure. Plans were thereafter made to restore the forest cover of the
canyon by planting.
[Illustration: Figure 51. A fertile corn-field covered with sand,
gravel, and débris brought down from the mountains by floods. These farm
lands are ruined beyond redemption. This could have been prevented by
preserving the forests on the watershed of this river.]
In this kind of protection work, as in the case of forest fires, it has
been found that preventive measures are much more effective and much
less costly than remedial measures. The regulations under which the
Forests are administered give the Secretary of Agriculture power to
institute preventive measures. To insure the sufficiency and purity of
the water supply of a municipality or of an irrigation district, or
to prevent floods and snowslides, the use of watersheds for grazing,
timber, special uses, or settlement is especially restricted when such
restriction is found to be necessary. On steep grass or timber-covered
mountain slopes both grazing and timber sales are prohibited, if
necessary.
_Public Health._ From the relation which the National Forests bear to
the streams that issue from them, it will be seen that they may exert a
great influence upon the health and general welfare of the communities
in the valleys below. All persons either permanently or temporarily
camped upon National Forest land are liable to trespass proceedings if
unsanitary conditions result from their presence. All camp refuse must
be disposed of either by burying or burning. This regulation applies
to hunting and fishing parties, as well as to large logging camps,
sawmills, and construction camps on National Forest lands. Thus the
regulations strictly guard against the pollution of the water supply
of the people who live in the large towns and cities, and also those
who live on the Forests or near them. The watersheds tributary to many
of the large western cities and towns are under special protection by
the Forest Service. Under this sanitary regulation, it is possible to
maintain such control of them as will greatly reduce the danger of
typhoid and other enteric diseases.
_Violation of Game Laws._ Wild game, fish and birds add materially
to the enjoyment of the National Forests by the public, and their
protection and preservation is a duty of Forest officers. Although this
duty rests primarily with the State the Forest Service assists, as far
as practicable, in the protection of game on the National Forests from
illegal practices. Forest Service officials are at the same time State
Game Wardens. In the event of a violation of the state game laws, they
either apprehend the offender or report the matter to the proper state
official.
Various kinds of game and bird refuges may be included within National
Forests, depending upon whether they are created by specific acts
of the State Legislature or by Acts of Congress. In these refuges,
hunting, trapping, willfully disturbing, or killing any game or bird is
prohibited. Whether the violation occurs in the state game refuge or the
national refuge, the Forest officer has authority to arrest the offender
without warrant.