engineer botanist and biologists all rolled into one our story takes place on the tumbling river national park although it could be almost any national forest in the east north south or west the time is today or any day and the life of one of uncle sam's forest rangers i can't remember for sure just what it was made me decide to become a forest i guess it was a lot of things at first maybe a long time ago it was just love the outdoors the sound of the wind in the treats the smell of a pine damp of morning dew the wild things among the clear running water in the forestry the wild flowers in the early summer the color of the hard woods in autumn the first fall of snow and winter it was our lad and more i came to know that duty was but one resource for i learned that there are other important resource and they need men to look after to manage and protect men who don't mind roughing it and who are willing to accept the challenge of strenuous work i don't remember when it was but suddenly i knew that i wanted to be a forester more than anything in the world well i finally made it and now i'm a forest ranger on one of the districts where a horse is still needed to get around in some of the rough roadless sects actually like most rangers i spend the largest part of my time on foot or  but today i had to use my horse to get into one of those remote section and now i'm heading home through one of the prettiest parts of the district here at the north end of my district are the big fogs you can almost always see a rainbow rising out of the mist the indians call this no no no i say  the ranger station is my central base of operations and my home i've got a nice layer i call ranger stations that was designed for efficiency the office building serves there's a garage and warehouse to handle the trucks and our supplies and equi the barracks is the place where the work crews bunk in the summer there's living quarters for the assistant ranger and his family and the place where i can hang my hat i sure am lucky in a lot of ways lucky to have a family that loves this sort of life as much as i do dave gets a big kick out of helping take care of the horse he is developing into a real judy lovely out of doors too but she lands a willing hand with the chores around the house and i'm lucky to have a wife like kay is a real partner in all i know of course so we give thanks to god for our many bless so martin darn good man he's slated for a promotion soon going to get a district of his own well bruce will make a good range he's got what it takes a willingness to work hard for long long hours the ability to handle tough situations and not let criticism good or bad get him down into the abdomen and selfishness that go with public service ranger district properly you've got to do a lot of planning every job must be carefully analyzed to ensure the most efficient use of manpower and on this day bruce said the final figures on the big creek timber say by call large timber sales on the national forest a combination of planning and field activity was necessary before a single tree was cut first we had to make a careful examination of the timber sale area we had to find out which tree should be cut which trees should be left you see the forest always has to be kept in good growing condition to produce future crop a fair minimum price stole it to the highest bidder the bar service never does any lobbying itself it's all done under timber sale contract by the purchase bruce handled most of the sale and he worked closely with the wood superintendent of the logging company that had bought the timber to it that the logging roads were located in the proper places and built so that the land wouldn't erode and wash away the actual cutting operations went on for month through it all we continually made sure that the logging was carried on without unnecessary damage to the remaining tree after the trees were cut into logs of proper length for hauling they were dragged to a central point for loading onto trucks was scaled that is measured for the amount of sound would think eliminating any rotten or defective on the basis of the recorded measurement of all the usable would the purchaser pay the government for the temporary gotten all the way when we make a term or sale like this one on big creek it's part of our overall program of timber manage it's our job to see that the trees are harvested when they're ready for harvest and for the far east as a whole we have to keep the amount of timber that's cut in balance with the timber grow service takes in not only for timber but for any commercial use goes back to the states in which the national forests are located that money is turned over to the county public schools and public r another ten percent is added to the funds that are appropriated to build roads and trails in the far east in terms of human welfare good timber management means jobs and paychecks for men in the wood at the mill and all along the line to the finished product employment and payrolls help bring stability to the homes of men and to their communit a forest rangers got to keep in mind all of the forest than all of the time because each resource ties in somehow all the others a big part of national forest use the ranchers pay a fee for the livestock they graze on the public forest land so the animals are counted as they are put on the range because the number of livestock in the length of time they may graze  this is done to ensure that there will be sufficient grass for them year after year with enough left over to protect the land against ero i make it a point to ride these range lands with the permit that is the man who owns the livestock working together we can keep the land in good condition not overgraze and at the same time not under grace so that both the land and the stockman get a fair  i've got other jobs all of them important all requiring some degree of planning the idea of course is to make the forest as useful as possible to the public and at the same time easier to protect a our forest road for example every road we build is necessary for the management protection and use of the farms once they are built the same goes for the forest trail they've got to be kept open for our work crews as well as for many folks who like to hike or ride as in any big business a vital part of our operation is the communication system we have special radio channels and miles of telephone lines constant maintenance required because in an emergency such as fire or when someone is injured or lost in the forest you've got to get the word out  one of our major responsibilities of course is to build up and maintain the forest on our range lands we plant grass where needed to protect the land and provide necessary food for animals and where erosion has already cut its evil paths to restore the plant crops bring the land back into useful s then there's the wildlife in the forest i like to think of wildlife but the renewable resource just like grass and trees a resource that can be grown and used like any other cro good forest management and good wildlife management go hand in hand i work closely with the state fish and game boys to provide better fishing and hunting under the state laws for the many people who love these outdoor sports hunting and fishing of course are only one part of the whole picture of forest recreation good camping and picnic areas and the improvements that go with them appeal to everyone and are in great demand and here is one place the public can really cooperate by helping take care of the area and by keeping them clean as they use this is one of the toughest jobs on my desk trying to accommodate the ever increasing crowd and to keep the recreation areas in good shape the same i sure like to have people on the farm i don't know of a better way to show them what's going on for example folks are usually surprised to learn that insects and disease kill more trees in the forest every year then fired and people have an opportunity to learn things like this right out where they are happening they become as anxious as i am to keep their forest green and grow it's my job as ranger to keep an eye open for sudden outbreaks of insects or disease and to prevent them from running wild everything we do in timber range in wildlife management and in recreation ties into our plans for walk in one way or another the water that flows from this forest is probably its most valuable resource that's why in managing the public grain i've got to keep the water values of the land definitely in my that's why in handling the timber resource i've got to always be sure that the flow of water in the streams will be maintained in good clean supply and that the land itself will be protected against erosion this is far more than just a pretty stream running through the forest it is the water that helps the trees and other plants to grow it is the water that the wildlife must have to make their forest home complete it is the water that the many visitors to the forests need to fully enjoy their outdoor recreation my responsibility in keeping safe the water values of this land extends far beyond the forests on this water once it leaves the forest as even greater service is to perform it is the water for irrigation or building power and serving the domestic needs of people  in managing this public forest i draw on the experiences of the rangers who came before me and on a practical results of the long years of study by the parliament state arrangers soon learns that he can take things for granted every situation calls for its own kind of act this is especially true when a fire breaks out on and then all of our regular plans go by the board for the moment and fire plans take over from our lookout on eagle mountain comes a report of a smoke at two hundred ten degrees bruce immediately plastered on our map the lookout on eco bluff radios the position of the smoke at three hundred five degrees from her tower the big creek area just love with lots of slack still on the ground this can be a bad one so i call the fire dispatcher to get every available man on the job our own fire station at the ranger station is already underway don't let anyone tell you there's romance or glamour in fighting a forest fire it's just hard hard tiring grueling work a lot of it's still got to be done by hand you build a line around  when you can't get water you throw dirt the idea is to keep the fire in a small an area as  whenever we can we use machines to help build the line and stop the fire the forest fire can burn for hours for days sometimes even weeks eventually you bring it under control the boys finally get a line around it and then starts to slow tough job of mopping enough putting it dead up it's a real break when you've got a stream somewhere close and you can pump some water in for the kill i always keep the dispatcher advised us to progress on the fire and tell him whenever i can what i'm doing and where  the mopping up begins i usually go around the fire line to check and look things  fire does terrible things to far if everybody could just see that if they could just get the depressing feeling right out on the ground i'm sure they'd be more careful matches cigarettes camp fire sometimes even the animals aren't fast enough well a forest ranger has to learn to take the bitter with the sweet fire is a villain sure but fire isn't the only thing that makes the rangers life pretty rough sometimes there are so many conflicting interests in use of the far that you're often hard put to resolve them in the best interest of everyone most of the forest users the timber operators stockmen miners and sportsmen are very cooperative and sincerely interested in safeguarding the resources of the farm but unfortunately there are always a few individuals who disregard the rules designed to protect it trespass on the wildlife on the timber and rain and on a forest itself through carelessness and false claims of one kind or another we must face up to this constant dramatic stuff not at all the real drama for me because he is helping to guard this wonderful heritage of ours rajendran today and their children tomorrow ranger no one is making a mighty important and necessary contribution to the security and strength there's an old saying that you can find a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow well alex no one for a stranger has found his treasury here it's his job of protecting and managing this far so that it will always give so much to so many