Nature Bulletin No. 29   August 25, 1945
Forest Preserve District of Cook County
Clayton F. Smith, President
Roberts Mann, Superintendent of Conservation

****:FIRE!

This is a year of plenty. Illinois is greener than we've ever seen it. All 
vegetation has made extraordinary growth. For instance, oats has a 
standard weight of 32 pounds per bushel. This year oats commonly 
weighed from 38 to 44 pounds per bushel. The grasses and "weeds" are 
unusually thick and tall. And that--now that they begin to brown and die 
has created an unusual fire hazard.

Along the highways, where the shoulders are newly mowed, and along 
the trails in the forest preserves, a match or cigarette or cigar carelessly 
thrown away may start a fire that will sweep over many acres of fine 
woodlands or young plantings, causing irreparable damage. From now 
until snowfall is a period of extreme fire danger.

Fire kills young trees and frequently so scars the trunks of the older 
trees that disease and insects can enter to eventually destroy them.

In a meadow, as well as in a woodland, fire consumes the humus from 
decaying vegetable matter so vital to the health and fertility of the soil.

The forest preserves are yours. You should protect them. When you see 
a fire in the preserves stop and put it out -- if you can. If you can't, go to 
a telephone, reverse the charges, and notify the Forest Preserve General 
Headquarters-- Forest 4470.

FIRE IS THE ENEMY OF FIELD, FOREST AND WILDLIFE.