Show FOREST FIRES ON THE MANTI RANGE Instructive Article on Subject Furnished by bg Forest Service The following article on the fire tire q question on lands within the ManU Manti National Forest has been prepared by bythe bythe bythe the Forest Service and will doubtless be a source of information to the readers of The rhe Enterprise Next to the the Earth itself the Forest is the most useful Servant of Man 1 The Forest has no enemy that i is as aa destructive as fire Millions of acres of the timber lands of the United States have have been burned over leaving leaving leaving leav leav- ing practically nothing behind but ruin a and d desolation It would be extremely ox ex difficult to estimate the value of the timber thus in dollars dol dol- lars tars and cents since the advent of of civilization saying nothing of the ru rn ruined ined fined cities towns homes and IO loss iI of f life Th The advent of civilization into the region now known as t the e Unite Uni United J States f und the better land covered with vast forests which it was waK necessary necessary sary t to remove In order to till tiU the soil for the production of a agriculture crops Naturally the work of removing rEmoving ing ng the timber to secure tillable lands left eft about the same degree of sympathy sympathy thy ihy for the Forest as aa the western homesteader has for the sage brush when he is la confronted with the sity of removing it before he can till the soil Timber was found in such vast quantities that tha the resource was s thought hought to have no limit The im- im was so instilled in the public mind mimi that as a a. nation we have ave been slow low to appreciate the necessity of action to prevent unnecessary unnecessary- de- de To discuss forest fires as a a. general topic would be too b broad ad a subject for or an article of this character Therefore Therefore There- There fore ore this article is confined to a brief description ascription of the fire situation on the be Manti tanti National Forest which will be more inter interesting and bene benefi- benefi cial ial Fires nave lave been more or less common common common com com- mon in the timber zones of the Waatch Wasatch Wasatch Wa- Wa satch atch range for ages The origin during dur- dur lug ing ng the early period can can probably be attributed principally to lightning and nd firing by Indians in the pursuit of he the game The injury resulting from these hese early fires it seems are not very conspicuous judging from present ir indic in in- dic as s evidences of recent burns burna prior to the advent of civilization in Continued on Page 5 i 5 w 5 t f FOREST T FIRES ON I THE MANTI RANGE RANGI RANGE II s. s f 1 f Continued from Page 1 r-J r i J f ft t z V this this country are not numerous 1 ly P t T The advent of the portable sawmill a and na 1 the camper marks the f. f i t i ous us s period of the he destructive fires o of this re region region ion Some of tle tie timber was wa wash t h i. i destroyed d by a s small all element element o ot of mill mm- 1 men men men who were in the business for fog forI r I p profit fit regardless of the destruction t- t that that they left for the future i t practice in isolated cases was to burn burr timber on a logging unit before the I logging ing crew was sent in m to cut The j idea was to b burn rn off the u underbrush rs and windfall in order to make the tract more acc accessible to log This k i ya va wa accomplished but the future tima timber tim tim- J a 1 ber bey tier crop way was also killed Young trees tree i t r a that would have been mature anc and andt t ready for o the tho saw in m twenty to thin thirty ti t years w were re left dead on the stump to tc W i rot t and nd the the reproduction was 1 o t t f lately destroyed making in m the ago ag ag- V r greK te much more material destroy destroy- z t 4 ed ed than hau was actually moved and converted con con- JJ when we Ve v r d into 1 lumber Only it consider ider that it takes from to a. a c y years rs to replace the timber thus vJ i c j wasted can we fully appreciate the Yf 1 extent of waste It is not my purpose to criticize by any any means the methods of t n l of f this section nor their attitude at- at 1 jj toward fire because I am sure lure i j q r-i r it iG can be said taid without contradiction ir l that the loggers have expended more morA i. i money Doney and amI given gi given en more time to the Ii prevention and fighting of Forest Fm t l in m the past than any class of i citizens In fact such incendiary 1 fires fire were the exception and out the tt r ru rule e but when resorted to were wele invariably invariably in in- var variably ably in in the best and and most accessible accessible t ble timber tracts since the object was fat lL C o to ifs secure cu e good lumber at a low cost j been burned have v. v t Large areas area f f h negligence of campers leav- leav I w t i- i une d ca camp p fires These t a wire w e ere e sc scattered and fanned by the thea I Unwind l ind and have probably been the i. i k a cf J cause e of t the greater reater number of forest f l s fire fir s on this range The fire when ric allowed to burn ourn unhindered un- un j once onca started was Vas r 1 hindered d until checked by the ele- ele j ti or I. I burned out because of la lack k f fuel fue upon which to continue Thousands of acres of good timber o has h s peen been een allowed to go up in smoke x without one iota of effort being put to stop the waste Prior to the J creation ia ion of f the National Forest it Iwas was not t unusual to see from one to toH H 3 74 three fires burning on the mountain pule t lea e during the fire season tep It isz is f z t dwell twell l remembered how lUoS most of these m 1 pre al allowed owed to burn themselves out hata what a disregard for valuable public pub pub- f lic Hundreds of thousands t of valuable timber carelessly sly burned and allowed to be destro destroyed d J with absolutely no effort to minimize t a a. a e. e rh Th The fir firon cun continued un- un checked until th the interior limits of oft t the timber tracts were reached when they would woul 1 die for fol lack of material d Such areas may yet be located from frem the blackened stumps stump and trees which stand as monuments of df dr I |