Section 2. That the director shall, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, have the supervision, management and control of the several national parks, national monuments, the Hot Springs Reservation in the State of Arkansas, and such other national parks, national monuments and reservations of like character as may hereafter be created or authorized by Congress. Section 3. That the Secretary of the Interior shall make and publish such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary or proper for the use and management of such parks, monuments and reservations, as are hereby or may hereafter be placed under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service, and any violation of any of the rules and regulations authorized by this Act shall be punished, as provided for in Section 50 of the Act entitled "An Act to codify and amend the penal laws of the United States," approved March 4, nineteen hundred and nine, as amended by Section Six of the Act of June 25, nineteen hundred and ten, (Thirty-sixth United States Statutes at Large, page 857). He may also upon terms and conditions to be fixed by him, sell or dispose of timber in those cases where the cutting of such timber is requisite for properly controlling the attacks of insects or disease, or of otherwise conserving the scenery or the natural or historic objects in any park, monument or other reservation; grant privileges, leases and permits for the use of land, but only for the accommodation of visitors in the various parks, monuments or other reservations herein provided for, but for periods not exceeding twenty years, and that no natural curiosities, wonders or objects of interest shall be leased, rented or granted to any one on such terms as to interfere with free access to them by the public. It is further provided that in the granting of leases and concessions, and in the general management and development of said parks, monuments and reservations, no action unless specifically provided for by future enactments of Congress shall be detrimental to the fundamental object of these aforesaid parks, monuments and reservations, which object is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects therein and to provide for the enjoyment of said scenery and objects by the public in any manner and by any means that will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations. The funds derived from such sales, leases, permits and privileges, shall be deposited in the treasury as a general fund to be expended by the director, under the supervision of the Secretary of the Interior, in the administration, maintenance and improvements of the parks, monuments and reservations herein provided for. Section 4. That the expenses incident to the establishment of such National Park Service shall be met out of funds allotted to the Interior Department for similar purposes and shall be submitted in the book of estimates furnished to the House of Representatives by the Department of the Interior. Section 5. That all acts or parts of acts inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed. FORESTRY NOTES Edited by WALTER L. HUBER THE FOREST FIRE SEASON OF 1915 IN CALIFORNIA During the forest fire season of 1915 there were reported in District 5 of the United States Forest Service, which includes California and southwestern Nevada, 1190 fires. Of these 80.25 per cent were put out when they had burned over areas of less than 10 acres. The total acreage burned inside the National Forests by these fires was 41,990.05, and outside of the National Forests, 41,837.29. The damage is estimated at $7,343.79. These fires originated from the following causes: Railroads, 16; campers, 312; brush-burning, 62; lumbering, 58; lightning, 290; incendiary, 261; miscellaneous, 59; unknown, 132. With a fire season of the same number of days as that of last year the expenditure for fire fighting was only one-third as large. PREVENTING Fires on TamaLPAIS As a result of the great fire of 1913 the Tamalpais Fire Association was organized in the fall of that year. It has, therefore, been in operation for two seasons, and so far its record is an excellent one. During the two years a total of only 640 acres has been burnt over, which, on a yearly basis, is equal to eight-tenths of one per cent of the 40,000 acres under protection. It is also worthy of remark that only 30 acres of brush land were touched by fire, the remaining 610 acres being grass land. The actual damage was slight and consisted for the most part of the scorching of fences and out-houses. It is frequently said that the Association has been "lucky." Of course a certain amount of chance enters into any system of fire prevention, and the results depend, to a certain extent, on the conditions of wind and weather when small fires break out. However, it seems only fair to assume that the good results on Tamalpais have been largely due to two things. In the first place, a campaign of education has been carried on which has impressed hunters, hikers and others using the mountain park with the importance of being extremely careful with the use of fire; and the education of the public has been supplemented by efficient policing during the dry seasons, with strict enforcement of the regulation which limits the building of camp fires to certain safely prepared spots, and which obliges one first to procure a written permit from the patrolman before lighting fires at these spots. These measures prevented the start of many fires which undoubtedly would have occurred in the absence of restrictions. In the second place, the organized fire-fighting forces of the Association reached and extinguished all the small fires so quickly that they had no chance to spread beyond control. The preventing of fires from starting and the prompt suppression of little fires were the result of systematic work; luck played a very small part. There have now been constructed twenty-four miles of fire trails, and this winter, which will complete the three-year construction period, it is planned to build six miles additional. These thirty miles, of course, are merely a beginning, for eventually every principal ridge and spur should be traversed by a trail, even if the clearing is no wider than necessary for a foot trail. Quick communication and bases from which to back-fire are the first essentials in any brushy country. It seems probable that all trails must be cleared out at least once every two years, calling for a maintenance expense of about $25 per mile; the original cost of cleaning out strips of from 10 to 20 feet in width has averaged in the neighborhood of $100 per mile, and even at this cost the roots of the brush can not be grubbed out. Because of the fact that no fires have as yet approached the trails already constructed no test of their usefulness has occurred, although in other regions the efficiency of fire trails has been demonstrated for many years. Several of the fires which have occurred during the past two seasons have started along the right of way of the Mount Tamalpais and Muir Woods Railway, doubtless from matches or burning tobacco carelessly thrown from the cars. That source will always remain as a considerable menace unless smoking on the trains should be prohibited. Other fires have started chiefly from hunters, from the burning of rubbish, and from boys playing with matches. The State fire laws are weak in many ways, and in several of the towns around the mountain the fire ordinances are defective. Remedial legislation will be attempted. The main needs of the Association at present are many more fire patrolmen, more fire trails and a paid system for fire fighters. The creation of the Marin Municipal Water District will naturally help the work of fire prevention immensely, for it means the establishment of a 12,000acre public park in the very heart of the Tamalpais country, implying permanent public management and greatly extended lines of travel. The Tamalpais Fire Association will continue in existence at least until such time as the water district is in a position to take over the work. The plan of financial co-operation is the most unique part of the Association's work. There is no other similar organization in the United States in which so many and so different interests are welded together for the public good. All the land is privately owned and neither the State nor federal governments assist in any way whatsoever. The property owners subscribe 10 cents per acre each year, according to the size of their holdings; the towns contribute lump sums, more or less in proportion to their assessed valuations; and the public which uses the mountain as a playground aids financially through membership dues. The property owners, without exception, have contributed generously and promptly, and, with one or two exceptions, the same is true of the towns; but the public which enjoys the mountain has responded lamentably. Not only is the membership list ridiculously small; more unfortunate still is the fact that one-third of the members lack sufficient interest in the work to pay their dues. Incidentally, one-quarter of the Association's income is contributed by Mr. William Kent. FREDERICK E. OLMSTED, Consulting Forester DEVELOPMENT OF THE RECREATION USE OF THE NATIONAL FORESTS A CIRCULAR LETTER TO FOREST OFFICERS Forest Supervisors and District Rangers, District 5: What is the present status of the recreation use on your Forest? Not that I want a collection of dry figures on the number of travelers that annually go into the mountains. I want you to think about it. A few hundred or a few thousand auto- or wagon-campers wind up your roads in summer, or pack or hike over the trails in your back country. You know in a general way who they are and where they come from; but have you ever seriously studied them from the point of view of developing and promoting this use to the fullest possible extent? What are the possibilities in this line? With no figures at all, simply from our general knowledge and common sense, we know that they are enormous. Every man or woman or child who gets out of a town or a hot valley and puts in ten days in the mountains in summer is a healthier, happier and better citizen for it. Do you begin to see the possibilities opening before us for contributing to the public welfare? Suppose we define the object we want to accomplish as increasing the recreation use tenfold in five years on every ranger district in every National Forest in California. Let's see how we ought to go about it. The man who is going on a summer vacation will be looking for hunting or fishing grounds; for chances to live and sleep in the open-to camp; for impressive or beautiful scenery; for opportunities for swimming or boating, or for regions where he can explore unknown country or regions of scientific interest. Our job is to facilitate the accomplishment of these objects by the prospective vacationist. The most obvious road to it is publicity. What is wanted is to tell as many prospective visitors as possible all they would want to know about a trip into the mountains. A map is probably the most effective and useful means of conveying this information. Suppose each Forest starts systematically to work this winter preparing the very best "Recreation Map" possible. The information is all collected-it is either in the files or in the heads of one or more officers. It remains only to get it into usable shape. Take the camper map as a base, and put all the recreation data on it as shown in the attached legend. I am informed that it will be mechanically impossible to run our existing camper maps through the press and have this data printed on them. Therefore, each Forest will go ahead and prepare the rough draft for a new edition of recreation maps which we will request Washington to lithograph for us in large numbers. These maps when completed should show to the prospective visitor everything of interest or value, among which are: 1. Outfitting points: Where camp supplies can be obtained. Where gasoline can be obtained. Where saddles and pack stock can be obtained. Where guides, packers or camp-tenders can be obtained. Where meals and lodging can be obtained. 2. Routes of travel: Roads passable for autos. Roads passable for wagons. Trails passable for stock. Trails passable for foot travel. 3. Horse-feed: Meadows where cattle-grazing is permitted. 4. Particularly good camp grounds. 5. Interesting areas and scenic points: Forest. Particularly fine timber. Forest Service stations or improvements. Telephones, post-offices, stage stations, etc. Of geological or historical interest. Of botanical interest. Of interest to mountain climbers (safest routes to top indicated). Of interest to hunters. Localities where deer, bear, quail, grouse, etc., are most prevalent. Of interest to fishermen. Stocked streams and lakes, with kinds of fish. Barriers impassable to fish. Of general scenic interest. Waterfalls. Lakes. Peaks. Points from which wide views may be obtained. |