Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1908-07-18
IMPORTANT FOREST
SERVICE CHANGE
Field Headquarters
to Re Established
in West
TO HANDLE ROUTINE AFFAIRS
Will Expedite and Render
More Economical Work
of This Branch.

expedite and render more effective
and economical the work of admins.
tering the National Forests, field head
quarters are to be established by the
Forest Service in the West, and the
celerical force needed to complete the
organization will be mainly drawn
from the force now employed in the
Washington office. The change will
take place not later than January l,
1909, and will probably begin by Oc-
tober of the present year.
Six Districts Now.
At present the National Forests are
grouped under six districts with head
quarters as follows: District 1, Mis-
soula, Minnesota; District 2, Denver,
Colorado; District 3, Albuquerque,
New Mexico; District 4, Salt Lake
City. Utah; District 5, San Francisco,
California. and District G. Portland,
Oregon. These headquarters will re-
main unchanged under the new plan
of administration. Each district will
be in charge of an assistant forester
who will deal directly with the super
visors of the forests of his district.
Only questions of special Importance
will be submitted to the Washington
Office for action. In this way, the reg
ular business of the forests will be
much expedited, while the men who
have charge of the business will be
in almost constant touch with the u.s.
ers of the forests. The men to take
charge Of the several districts have
not as yet been selected but they will
be chosen from those in the regular
forest service who have had the most
experience in the work on the Ma
tional Forests.
Due to Growth OF Business.
The growth of business in the Ma
tional Forests, resulting from the use
of their resources by the public, has
been steady and rapid ever since the
policy of wise use supplanted the pol
icy of restricted use, at the time when
the management of the National For
ests was placed under the forest serv-
ice. One of the big problems of admin
istration has been to get into close
touch with the users of the National
Forests, and this has already been
partially solved by various expedients.
such as delegating to local Forest Of.
fcers the authority to transact a large
part of the National Forests business.
In this way the public and the serv-
ice have been constantly brought clos
er together. A second step in the same
direction was the recent transfer OF
headquarters for supplies from Wash
ington, D. c., to Ogden, Utah. A third
step was the placing of branch OF
the office of engineering, which has
charge of permanent improvements on
the forests, also at Ogden, which is
centrally located. The contemplated
change is, therefore, merely the com.
pletion of plan which has already
been practically worked out.
Clerks Will Be Transferred to West
Probably one-third of the clerical
force now in Washington, mainly
stenographers and typewriters, will
go West to complete the organization
required in each field district. 1t is ex.
pected that sufficient number OF
clerks in the Washington office will
desire assignments to the field head.
quarters, so that it will not be neces'
sary to send to the field those who dc
not wish to go and no new appoint.
ments will be necessary. In making Sc.
lections for the new posts the individ'
ual preferences of the clerks will be
consulted SO far as the work permits
The change will not affect the form
of organization of the forest service in
Washington. The officers will be re-
tanned as at present, but with small
er force. All Of the investigation work
done by the service, except that di
rectly connected with the administra
tion of the National Forests, will con
tinue to be directed from Wasing