In more heavily timbered areas of the state, on lands owned by the federal government, state of Idaho, the counties, individuals, and on land in transit to counties through tax delinquency, devastating forest fires annually denude considerable areas of vegetation and subject such lands to erosion with total loss of top soils; permit an infestation of weeds which imperil adjacent agricultural lands, destroy feed and cover for wild life, and create great distress in agriculture through loss of grazing. Therefore, the seeding of such burned areas to suitable range grasses and/or legumes as soon as possible after the cessation of such fires is declared to be a matter of public welfare to the state.