6. To assist in the establishment of county and community forests. 7. To disseminate forestry knowledge through the publication of forestry literature. Reforestation Illinois has within its total land area of approximately 35,800,000 acres, 2,500,000 acres of land that should be reforested. These lands are lying idle at present due to the fact that they are too poor for agricultural purposes. As such they provide an economic burden to their owners and to the State because they are unproductive. These same lands will grow trees profitably, therefore, it is necessary that they be planted to trees for a future timber crop which ultimately will bring a revenue to the landowners and community. To meet this situation, the Department of Conservation, Division of Forestry has developed two large forest tree nurseries capable of producing 15,000,000 trees annually for reforestation and erosion control purposes. These trees are available to farmers and landowners at prices varying from $5.00 to $15.00 per thousand, dependent upon the species of trees desired. Trees secured from the State must be used only for reforestation and erosion control and cannot be used for landscape or ornamental plantings. Definite progress has been made in the State reforestation program of idle lands. The first major distribution of trees took place in 1936 at which time 300,000 trees were planted in the State. Since 1936 the State's reforestation program has steadily been enlarged to the extent that in 1940, 6,250,000 trees were distributed from State nurseries and in 1954, 9,996,000 trees left the Division's nurseries to be planted by farmers and public agencies in the State. Considerable progress has been made, however, it is hoped that the reforestation program in Illinois will continue to expand until all idle lands in Illinois are growing a useful timber crop. Forest Fire Protection Woodland fires in Illinois always present a serious problem to the future growth and quality of our forests. Thousands of dollars worth of damage is done annually to our existing woodlands by fires which not only destroy our merchantable timber but also cause severe mortality to young forest seedlings. Fires seriously affect the soil, destroy wildlife and disrupt the entire biological balance of the forest. Every effort should be made, therefore, to prevent woods fires.