State of New Hampshire BIENNIAL REPORT of the Forestry Division 1949-1950 Concord, New Hampshire 1951 ;- -s ‘efto’U! To His Excellency, the Governor, and the Honorable Council: The Forestry and Recreation Commission submits herewith its report for the years 1949-50. As has been customary in recent years, the record of the Forestry Division and that of the Recreation Division are reported in separate sections; each contains a complete record of activities together with a detailed accounting of expenses and descrip tion of accomplishments. This report covers the Forestry Division only. The biennial period has been characterized by an exceptionally fine forest fire control record in spite of prevailing drought conditions; the formation of the Northeastern Interstate Forest Fire Protection Compact of which New Hampshire is a charter member; expansion of the blister rust control program; forest research and manage ment activities; and by the passage in 1949 of the Forest Conserva tion and Taxation Act. This law provides for a severance tax on timber when cut in place of the general property tax on standing timber and provides for tax abatement where cutting is carried out in accordance with sound forest practices. This law not only at tracted nation-wide attention, but has rightfully established New Hampshire as one of the most progressive forestry-minded states in the country. The ever-increasing support of the tax law by the citizens substantiates the wisdom of placing our future state forest conservation program on a cooperative rather than a regulatory basis. W. ROBINSON BROWN, HARRY K. ROGERS, OWEN JOHNSON, RANDALL E. SPALDING, CHARLES E. GREENMAN, Forestry and Recreation Commission. JOHN H. FOSTER, State Forester — rrmr - - re — - — TABLE OF CONTENTS REPORT TO GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL REPORT OF THE FORESTRY DIVISION Forest Protection Forest Fire Control 7 Fire Prevention 13 White Pine Blister Rust Control 23 Forest Insects and Diseases 29 Public Forests 3 Publicly Owned Forest Land in New Hampshire 31 State Forests and Reservations 32 Management of State Forests 37 State Forest Operations 39 Town and City Forests 43 White Mountain National Forest 49 State Forest Nursery 50 Private Forestry County Forestry Program 53 Registered Arborists 55 District Forest Advisory Boards 58 Forest Taxation 59 Surveys and Statistics Forest Research 61 Forest Products Cut 1948 and 1949 61 ç Imports and Exports of Logs to Sawmills 63 National Forest Survey 64 Revision of Laws 1949 66 Forestry Division Appropriations 69 9 t t V r d f. E p a $ a: T w 2 fc w cc in of p TI ca la: su pa 1i Fuel Moisture and wind velocity recording Station. in fo FOREST FIRE CONTROL Review of Fire Conditions—1949-1950 The 1948 Season HE wet conditions that prevailed in the late spring of 1948 changed rapidly in July to excessively hot, dry weather carry T ing through September. With only a few thunderstorms in August to break the drought, streams, swamps, bogs and springs dried up and the ground water dropped so that many wells that had continued through the 1947 drought now dried up. Al though there were normal westerly winds, no exceptionally high winds occurred. Killing frosts occurred September 17th followed by rains in the northern and western parts of the state with a return of wet conditions by October 8th all over the state. Many fires started during the dry period, especially in the southern and western counties, with a large percentage of lightning fires. On August 29th during a fresh westerly breeze, fires got out of immediate control in Walpole, Rindge and Auburn. The Walpole fire on the ledges of Fall Mountain proved to be very stubborn, burning for over 3 weeks before the 1200- acre area was declared safe. The total cost of suppression was $13,214.00. The Auburn fire burned 55 acres and was equally difficult and expensive. On September 9th a lightning fire in Temple burned 150 acres in Temple and 50 in Sharon, threatening for a time the whole Temple Mountain area. The ground was so dry that final control was only effected when water was brought in by large oil tankers and pumped up on the mountain with pump relays. A flash fire of 25 acres of grass and brush in Winchester on October 3rd, threatened for a time millions of feet of stacked lumber. The year 1948 ended with a deficiency of 6.32 inches below the normal rainfall and the dry conditions continued into 1949. The 1949 Season The light accumulation of snow in the winter of 1948-49 went off in mid-March with greater than normal temperatures and a deficiency of rainfall continued through April. This resulted in a com paratively large number of fires of which 18 burned over 10 acres. These were flash fires in grass, slash and growing stands mostly caused by debris burners, railroads and smokers. These occurred largely in the lower Merrimack Valley. Light rains in May kept the surface damp. No rain fell from May 31st to June 22nd and the new partial ban was invoked from June 15th to 28th. On June 18th a lightning fire high on the upper slopes of Little Coolidge Mountain in Lincoln proved to be very resistant to control, it being taken over for final control by the White Mountain National Forest wardens J. 8 N. H. FORESTRY AND RECREATION COMMISSION since it was close to the forest boundary. Hot and dry weather prevailed, so the closure was in effect from July 7th to 18th, although there were fairly general rains on the 10th and 13th. Following hot dry weather in the latter part of July with only light scattered showers and a general rain July 31st, August began ‘1 hot and dry. On August 8th the counties of Rockingham, Strafford and Hilisborough were completely closed with partial closure on the rest of the state excepting Coos County. Following general rains the ban on all counties except Strafford and Rockingham was lifted on August 15th, these two counties remaining closed until September 1st. The coastal regions were very dry all summer, green grass and lesser vegetation reached the cured stage, and the possibility for fires was very great. Wells dried up and water for stock and chicken farms had to be hauled. We had a large number of fires with an unusual number of lightning fires. For the most part the fires were kept small but fires in New Durham and Brookline burned 165 and 150 acres. The week of August 21-27 was the worst with visibility lowered by smoke drift from Canada and with hot dry winds. During September we had greater than average rainfall which soaked the surface but with little effect on ground water levels. October resumed the trend of excess temperature and less than nor mal rainfall, which condition continued until the end of the year. Ground water levels reached their lowest point in the latter part of October. 1949 ended with an accumulated deficiency for the year of 9.37 inches of normal rainfall. The 1950 Season From the time the snow went off in late March in the lower end of the state burning indexes were high and continued so until the last of May. April was cool with very heavy rain on the 20th. Rapid surface drying brought a rapid rise again in the burning index so that conditions were approaching a critical stage by the end of the first week in May. The morning of Sunday, May 7th started with increasing west winds which continued on through that night and all the next day at from 17 to 35 miles per hour shifting northwest on the 8th. Warnings over commercial radios were immediately an nounced and Governor Adams was requested by the State Forester to place a partial closure on the whole state. There were many fires those two days most of which were held to small size, but a few, due to their location, immediately blew up into conflagrations that defied for a time all efforts to control. A list of these larger fires and the area they covered follows: r REPORT OF FORESTRY DIVISION 9 ‘1 LARGE FIRES OCCURRING ON MAY 7-8, 1950 Date Discovery Time Town Acres Cause May 7 9:00 A. M. Seabrook 50 Town dump 10:15 A. M. Epsom 160 Burning building 11:00 A. M. Loudon 168 Smoking, fisherman 11:28 A. M. Auburn, Candia, Chester 1,531 Smoking, fisherman 11:30 A. M. Derry 250 Town dump 12:30 P. M. Merrimack 27 Smoking, fisherman 12:45 P. M. Merrimack 13 Debris burning 1:00 P. M. Alton 20 Debris burning 5:00 P. M. Litchfield-Hudson 103 Glass in dump May 8 12:00 P. M. Derry-Windham 380 Incendiary 1:00 P. M. Nashua 12 Railroad 1:30 P. M. Canterbury 1,205 Railroad 1:40 P. M, Northfield 75 Railroad 2:00 P. M. Newton 15 Smoking, choppers 2:15 P. M. Alexandria 70 Smoking, choppers 3:30 P. M. Northumberland 25 Town dump 4:00 P. M. Litchfield Londonderry 500 Unknown 4:20 P. M. Sanbornton 15 Smoking In all a total of 85 fires were reported in the two days, including 16 from town dumps. The high winds broke telephone communica tion on 6 lookout towers. All of the fires were under control by the evening of the day they occurred and did not break out again. The ban was lifted on May 19th. Occasional rains kept the danger moderate until the end of June with .55 inch accumulated deficiency. The total accumulation of deficient rainfall since 1946 to the end of 1950 was 20.81 inches less than normal.