Approximately 4,000.000 acres of Oregon timber, or 160,000,000,000 board feet, has so far been destroyed by fire. This timber if standing would be worth at least $240,000,000.
A few of the states that spend each year large sums for forest work are: Maine, $68,000; Minnesota, $75,000; New York, $149,000; Pennsylvania, $313,250; Washington, $38,000. Oregon, with one-fifth of all the standing timber in the United States, spends only $30,000.
Oregon's forests still constitute, next to land itself, her greatest natural resource. Though ravaged for centuries by destructive fires and insect pests, and though some four million acres, nearly one-sixth of the present forested area of the State, has been denuded through lack of protection, there still remains a wealth of timber far surpassing that of any other State in the Union.
Viewed from any standpoint Oregon's forests are worthy of every protection with which they can be surrounded, and in affording this protection the Government, State and private owners must work harmoniously together.
The past two years have been for Oregon the period of greatest advancement in forest protection, brought about in no small degree through the influence of an excellent forest law passed by the legislature of 1911. This legislature, though making an appropriation which, when compared with those which went before it, might seem liberal, still failed fully to appreciate the absolute necessity for the State's taking a leading hand in forest protection, and did not furnish sufficient funds to secure for the ordinary years the results which the people can reasonably expect.
Oregon is still far below the place she should occupy among timber states in forest protection and management. Other states with not one-fiftieth part of our resources are each year expending from two to ten times more money than we are in safeguarding their forests. Viewed from a strict business standpoint, Oregon could well afford to expend in protection five times the present appropriation for this purpose. During the one year of 1910 forest fires took from the State property which had it been saved would at some time have brought in over $23,000,000 of outside money. In 1911 destruction through fire was reduced to less than one-twentieth of this amount, and 1912, when final figures are available, will show an equally gratifying condition of affairs. This bettering of conditions is not due to chance, it is the result of greater activity on the part of all agencies—Government, State and private.
