Vol. XVII-No. I

A

EDITORIAL.

N insistent problem:-is the water power of the State. How much of it has been, or is being used, and how much remains undeveloped? How shall it be conserved and how used? These are all questions which cannot be answered offhand. They require careful consideration, and if we would be prepared for coming events, they require that consideration now.

New England is on the worry over the necessity of abandoning coal for water power for its manufacturing interests. The textile manufacturers there affirm that unless cheaper power than coal is available, they cannot, in view of the eighthour day, continue their work at a fair profit. Some of them suggest that the one remaining thing for them to do, is to shut down their mills and quit.

"New York is also moving for greater use of water power, though the coal situation there has never been so bad as in New England."

We in Pennsylvania, whence the hard coal is taken, have painful visions of poorer quality and higher prices than ever before.

Can anyone tell, with reasonable approach to accuracy, what the available water power is, or what it might be developed into? With the unexpected facts of the great war before us still fresh in mind-the coal famine, the stagnation of our industries, the physical suffering, the lost time to labor and the lost money to employer, we are still hugging the delusion that there is plenty of time to prepare for the inevitable demand for more water power. Lack of due consideration may lead to giving away of the State's resources, or wasting them in unworthy purposes, or failing to use in proper fields for want of a wise forethought.

All this might be tolerated if our State were lacking in water power. It is not! We have probably an altitude of from twelve hundred up to three thousand feet above tide over one-fourth of the Commonwealth. And on this vast area comes a fair annual precipitation of rain and

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over so large a portion of our Commonwealth, and in these valleys there exists capacity where water in enormous quantities may be stored with entire safety to the inhabitants along the lower courses of the streams. Does any man with average brain power think such resources, in such a time as this, when power is the dream of the world, should be left unguarded, or unutilized? Our legislature is in session. We commend consideration of these facts to the serious attention of the members. Who among them will be forehanded enough to take the matter up and press due consideration of it? It affords a field upon which some one may "write his name high" as a public benefactor.

Associated with the above is the relation of State Forests to water conservation. There are just two facts which any one may see, and which leave but one answer. They are: First, in the woods, where there is a good bed of leaves the soil seldom freezes, except in a winter of unusual severity. The leaves prevent the escape of the earth's heat, as clothing prevents escape of the heat of the body and in addition, there is generated a certain amount of heat by the slow decay of the organic matter of the leaves-unless those leaves have been removed by fire, or otherwise, it is in winter usually possible to thrust a pointed cane into the depth of the ground. Second, at the same time the frozen surface of an open field will resist the passage of the cane into the ground. The ground of the forest is in condition to absorb the melting snow, or the rain (unless already saturated); when the water is flowing off from the frozen surface of the field, unless it is covered with a dense mass of grass, which is seldom the case in winter. These are facts which anyone may verify, and they prove beyond doubt the water-collecting power of the forest. It is, therefore, safe to affirm quite independently of other observations, that the forests do conserve our water supply.

Railroad congestion, coming in our time of greatest need, taught us the value of good roads and the transportation by trucks. But that is only half of the lesson. It should lead us to recognize, also, that in the densely populated countries canals and rivers still are necessary in

addition to good roads and railroads. We are fast approaching that time here!

Our splendid river system is the property, in one sense, of the State. We share in its control with the general government, which has already shown an inclination to exert its authority over such as are navigable, in order to secure forest culture on the State highlands. Already the Susquehanna and the Juniata rivers have been utilized by water power corporations. The Lehigh, in earlier years, carried coal to market. The time will come when the Allegheny, the Monongahela and the Delaware-will have dam after dam stretching across them from their mouths to their headwaters, wherever there is fall enough to convert water into power. There will be a succession of dead-water lakes, capable of floating cargobearing boats. Is it not the duty of the State to provide that no dam shall cross any one of these. rivers, without having locks through which boats may pass?

Are we to suddenly realize in some coming crisis, that our rivers are essential elements in conveyance of the State products. And that we need water power, conserved in the forest-covered highlands of the Commonwealth, to make the rivers available. It requires fifty years to produce a forest! There are millions of acres of barren

highlands in Pennsylvania today. J. T. R.

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Roosevelt Resolution.

HE following resolution was unanimously passed by the Council of the Association at the death of Colonel Roosevelt:

The Pennsylvania Forestry Association sorrows in the death of Colonel Theodore Roosevelt.

Recognizing in him a pioneer force for the preservation of our forests, as well as being a leader in constructive conservation of our every natural resource;

Knowing him to have been possessor of the highest and most humanistic ideals-whose every ambition was to lead men toward the right;

Recognizing in him those qualities which have made him the pioneer friend of humanity and which have elevated him to a place of distinguishment, honor, esteem and love second to none of his time and generation;

Therefore, be it resolved, That this expression of our esteem be made a permanent part of the records of the Pennsylvania Forestry Association, and that they be printed in "Forest Leaves," and that a copy be mailed to his widow, Mrs. Edith Kermit Roosevelt.

Shall We Prevent Forest Fires or Merely Control Them?

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HE sooner we recognize the human side of the forest fire problem, and exert our efforts to change it, so as to have it in our favor, the sooner the solution of the problem may be obtained. Of course, the forest will burn as long as trees produce leaves and branches fall to the ground and become dry as tinder. Some of the debris may be cleaned up and disposed of at a certain expense and to the satisfaction of some people. The fuel for fires can be regulated to a certain extent. The fire itself can be extinguished under even unusual and unfavorable conditions, but this work, too, is more largely dependent upon human, than upon physical factors.

But how are fires in forests started? Spontaneous combustion may cause a few. Lightning causes a few-probably ten or twelve a year. The other 1,500 or 2,000 are caused directly or indirectly by the deliberate action of man. Of course, a few are started by irresponsible individuals. Unquestionably the prevention of fires is a human problem. Why does any individual with brains permit a spark to come in contact with highly inflammable, extensive, and valuable property, as, for example, a forest? Perhaps psychology may give the answer. Common sense certainly will. But at any rate there must be a study of local relationships. The so-called careless fires do just as much damage as the intentional fires. Why are the people careless, or why do so many accidental (?) forest fires happen in spring and fall, and not so many in winter and summer?

How, then, can the minds of men be reached SO as to change their attitude from one of thoughtlessness and indifference to one of carefulness, of community interests? Even without this change, fire extinction, the physical operation, is not a difficult operation wherever force is available for the purpose. But in the majority of cases this means men, women, and boys with equipment. How is it possible to get this force? Was there willingness or unwillingness? Even though this force were present under duress, who exerted the pressure? Was it law? Who enacted the law, or who would enforce it? No matter from what angle you look at it, you face a human problem.

The only logical way of producing change in the human mind is by education. It is well to investigate and tabulate causes, but it is better to control and extinguish them when they

occur. To do these things there must be an organization large enough to cover the forests to be protected. There must be a head to the organization and sufficient help to keep it going. There must be inspection, and there must be a number of alert, interested, efficient men ready to do promptly, whatever must be done. Fires must be detected promptly, reported promptly, extinguished promptly. A force of helpers and sufficient equipment must be available at a moment's notice. Other details must be worked out, and through all the details runs the human element.

We need in Pennsylvania a more compact organization for fire control. We have advanced about as far as possible now without funds to employ supervising fire wardens. The local wardens are a splendid body of men, but there are things they cannot and will not do until some one else does it with them and for them. The State must be divided into districts according to our present law and a District Forester or District Fire Warden, a forester, in each district. Under present conditions there is work enough to keep 21 such men busy every minute of the time. These could be reduced gradually to probably 13 or 14.

For prompt detection of forest fires, we must have at least 100 primary stations of observation on high mountains, and at least 100 secondary stations. In the majority of places this will demand steel towers, with steps, enclosed tops, cabins, equipment, and telephonic connection. New Hampshire has 39 such towers. New York 36, and expects to build more. Other States are building them. Needless to state a tower is no good for fire detection without a live man on it and without another live man within reach of the other end of the telephone line. Some patrolmen must be employed, in spite of towers. During extreme conditions there will be need for not fewer than 300 men for this work. Under fair or average conditions the number may not exceed 150. New York paid in 1918, something over $7,000.00 for 13 observers.

The fire wardens and their men find old methods of fighting fire with sticks and brush too slow for the standards we propose to them. They continually ask for better equipment. To give each warden an efficient equipment of torches, axes, saws, sprayers, brush cutters, etc., a small sum could be expended judiciously and much loss could be prevented. But the equip- | ment should be complete and in a convenient tool box. This is not a new idea, either, for other

States and the National Government are supplying these things to their forest guardians.

The men must be organized into crews and be used as men, not machines. They must be given a decent wage, they must get to and from the fire, they may need food, and they always need water. These expenses must be provided for and should be paid promptly, not a month or more after service has been rendered.

To complete the organization outlined above, within the next five years, and to take care of current fires, will require a sum of not less than $290,000.00 per year. This is a large figure, when compared with the appropriations for the purpose in the past. They ranged from $45,000.00 to $80,000.00 for two years, not counting deficiency appropriations. But the annual loss from forest fires is close to $50,000,000.00, and the amount needed for protection is only a little over one-half of one per cent. of the loss. This is not a high rate of insurance by any means. No good business man would hesitate to spend $290,000.00 a year if he could save, thereby, $50,000,000.00 or even half that amount. Why do State Legislatures and Governors hesitate to approve an amount with which to accomplish so much good when they have provided a means by which more than this may be spent for the protection of game? It is an acknowledged fact that game is but an adjunct of the forest. The answer again is that the human side is paramount. The pursuit of game, fish, recreation, etc., is an immediate and personal proposition, while growing trees, furnishing labor, influencing stream flow, climate, agriculture, etc., are things of the future, and abstract propositions for the other fellow.

If forest fire control is good, forest fire prevention is better. From what has preceded it can be seen that this reduces itself to a campaign of education. This must be begun now and continued without let up until every individual in this Commonwealth or who comes within its borders knows that fire and forest can be combined, only at the risk of great loss and severe penalty. This must keep up until the idea becomes second nature and until parents teach it to their children as one of the fundamentals of our economic relations. Certainly this cannot be accomplished over night, nor by the passage or enforcement of any law or number of laws. We cannot expect a reasonable appropriation with which to begin real work until this campaign has progressed somewhat. It is the duty, therefore, of everyone interested in forestry and forest conservation to get busy and educate himself and