Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1922-02-11

can be increased It's kind regulated,
and its most desirable utilization Sc
cured.
The Wild life Of the forests has
various kinds of values-materia
esthetic, scientific. educational. All
should be recognized. Unregulated
use means its impairment; intensive
use. often It's eventual destruction as
n resource. Expert knowledge Of all
the factors that determine its amount
and character on given area. COM
hned with just appraisal Of all the
human services and values realizable
from it. are fundamental requisites for
its proper administration"
Supervisors Problems.
In many cities west Of the Great
Plains you will find national forest
headquarters In the business sections
Of these places. There are such Offices
In Seattle, Portland and Los Angeles ::
IN Denver and Salt Lake City: In Mis-
soula. Mont. and in Phoenix. Ariz
You will also find these headquarters
In dozens Of little places that YOU
never heard of. Fifteen years ago al
most all the forest headquarters were
In little settlements or out-of-the-way
towns close ~ the forests themselves.
But for the better service of the pub
lie Il has been necessary TO move
lille points.
The forest supervisor" says Her
bert 4. Smith assistant forester In
charge Of public relations. forest serv-
ice. in bulletin. "is first and fore
most business man. the local man
ager of an important enterprise. of
some million acres Of land permanent
~ devoted 10 the advancement of the
general welfare His duties as
manager are partly those of an execu-
tive in charge Of property which
must be protected developed and I'm
proved. But they are also very large
~ those of sales manager. What
he Is engaged In selling. however. is
something more than the things that
bring i'm money to the government II
- w NHt tlifliN tilt
munity and the nation.
All Technical Men.
'''rhe supervisor may or may not be
college graduate who has prepared
for his profession as would an engi-
neer or a student Of agriculture at a
state university: but he is always a
graduate Of the school Of the woods.
Over onethird of the 152 supervisors
have been through professional
school Of forestry. But all should be
counted technical men. for to he quail
fled for their jobs they have had to
learn. through years Of service. the
practice Of forestry as II Is applied on
the national forests
Before finding out just what this
means. we may profiiably note what
sort Of business goes on IN the super
vlsOrs office. on his desk Is his morn
ing mail-perhapS - or 60 letters. II
II does not happen TO be busy time.
Some are from people whose homes
are within ar near the forests and
who have written for a permit 10 cut
some 'free-uSe' timber for fuel, fencing
or lumber. or who want summer EN-
ployment as fire guards. or who are
not satisfied with the way the local
ranger j. dealing with them. For we
must remember that our general sales
manager for the forest. In the person
of the supervisor. Is not the man who
does most az the actual selling.
THE men In first-hand contact with
the local public are the forest rangers
"A goodIy body, all In the classified
civil service and. therefore. selected
on the basis ~ proved qualifications.
The forest ranger has almost become
famous. collectively speaking. In the
West and even In the East That Is
partly because he Is somewhat pic
turcsque and romantic figure as well
as highly useful citizen and public
officer lie Is indeed In n sense the
keystone ~ the forest service arch
all the rest OF the administrative or.
ganlzation leads mp To him and he Is
the final unit that completes the sys-
TEN.
"Since the rangers are the actual
statesmen Of service to the local pub
lie. II they don't mind their p's and
as the supervisor quickly hears Of IT.
and very likely also II they do.
Grazing Problem.
"When the forest service took
charge Of the forests In 1909 the most
pressing administrative problem was
what Ia do about grazing. Unregulat.
ed grazing WIS proving seriously IN
lurl"ns both To The growth ~ timber
and 20 water supplies and the range
itself was fast losing productive ca
nacity Many persons advocated en-
iirciv closing the forests 10 the grazing
: sheep y one would think ~ sug-
scsilng SUI pollfy now.
''rhe "A ssIil too far distant