. American forestry. Forests and forestry. FIRES IN WASHINGTON AND OREGON 647 aimed at. It is better to spend money in preventing fires from getting under headway than in fighting large fires. During the dangerous season no fire guard should have a district to patrol which he can not cover easily in one day. The average area covered by each National Forest ranger in Wash- ington and Oregon exceeds 50,000 acres. Not infrequently it is more than this. In many instances the value of stand- ing timber guarded by a single ranger exceeds $3,000,000, and when it is con- sidered that these same men ar
. American forestry. Forests and forestry. FIRES IN WASHINGTON AND OREGON 647 aimed at. It is better to spend money in preventing fires from getting under headway than in fighting large fires. During the dangerous season no fire guard should have a district to patrol which he can not cover easily in one day. The average area covered by each National Forest ranger in Wash- ington and Oregon exceeds 50,000 acres. Not infrequently it is more than this. In many instances the value of stand- ing timber guarded by a single ranger exceeds $3,000,000, and when it is con- sidered that these same men are also responsible for the prompt and efficient conduct of other National Forest busi- ness, the inadequacy of such a force needs no further demonstration. It is sufficient to say that good insurance on three million dollars' worth of prop- erty could hardly be had for $1,100 or $1,200, the salary of a ranger. The National Forests of Washing- ton and Oregon contain over one-third of all the standing timber in such For- ests throughout the United States. Its value, conservatively estimated, is not less than $400,000,000. To properly guard this great national wealth re- quires adequate means of communica- tion, trails, roads and telephone lines, and a sufficient number of men during the summer months to patrol the area properly. Trail and road building is here more expensive than in any other section of the United States, but the value of the timber warrants large ex- penditures, for it is the finest timber in the world. Provision for its proper protection should be made at once. The people of the United States can not afiford to wait until disaster forces the necessity for such protection upon them. Here is a case where the door may be locked before the horse is Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the origin
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectforestsandforestry
