OCR Text |
Show FOREST FIRE PROTECTION. Governor Pierce of Oregon has vetoed the opening of the open hunting season until the coming of rains sufficient to eliminate every danger of forest fires started by hunters. This action is taken in the name of the state's basic industry, lumbering. More than 100,000 people of Oregon get their living directly from the forests; most of the state is at least indirectly dependent de-pendent upon the lumber industry. But in this unusually dry season, only extraordinary efforts have saved our forests and lumber industry. Men who buy licenses are entitled to fish and hunt according to the terms of their license-contracts. But in the face of an emergency it is a poor sportsman and poor citizen who will quarrel with the Oregon governor's interpretation of the state's needs. Hunters claim to be proverbially careful; yet only one careless match might destroy forests in Oregon which would result in throwing throw-ing thousands of men out of work in sawmills and logging camps not to metion possible loss of life and the crippling of a great industry. Other lumbering states wou?d do well to consider following the action of Oregon's governor. |