The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1925-12-04
AS|N|NE To THE
NTH DECREE.
OUTDOOR WRITER ON ST. PAUL
PAPER DISPLAYS HIS
KNOWLEDGE.

Listen to this and then express
your opinion.
Forestry in Minnesota is suffer-
ing from an over supply of cow
boys and shortage, OF woodsmen.
This is particularly noticeable
in the Superior National Forest.
Under the workings of the civil
service and seniority systems, direc-
ton and supervision is drifting in
to the hands of men whose sole
practical experience has been in the
mountain forests of the west. They
understand fiivvers and claim to be
horsemen, but don't know which
end of canoe paddle to put into
the water.
"To put it plainly, they are
stumped by the transportation prob
lem. There is not single forty"
in the Superior National which can't
be reached by canoe in summer
time or by snowshoe in winter,
and there are few "forties" which
can be reached by car or broncho.
Rather than have the Superior
National forest riddled and ruined
by roads so these Bill Harris and
Tom Mixes of the forest service can
get around over it, we could dis
pense with federal supervision en-
tirely. The rangers of the adjoin-
ing state forests manage to cover
their territory very thoroughly. But
then, they are woodsmen, not cow
punchers and sheep herders. Given
rangers and patrolmen of the same
caliber it would be possible to man.
age and protect the Superior Ma
tional without any extension of its
present road system.
: "The argument of the western
ers is that they must have roads to
reach fires quickly. The answer is
that where there are no roads there
are few fires. Experience proves
that the canoe tourist is careful
with fire and the motor tourist reck-
less; few fires can be traced to the
former and most fires are due to
the latter. The motor camper may
have some faint idea of putting out
a camp fire, but he simply will
"shoot his butts" into the highly in
famable roadside litter and vegeta-
ton.
at is poor management to burn
up the Superior National merely to
make their jobs easier for lot of
misfit foresters. The common sense
procedure you'd be to hire men who
know the woods to protect the
woods. No amount of technical for
estry knowledge qualities a man for
forestry service unless he is able to
take himself into the woods where
that knowledge can be used.
tLA fnIn Ic
to safeguard the Superior National
is few more men who can keep a
canoe right side up and on its
course; who don't finch at the sight
of a packsack; who can tie the
Indian twist" on pair of snow
shoes and who can manage to sleep
out without getting a cold in the
head-or cold feet"
Where this writer fellow got his
tips is hard to say. One thing is
certain, he knows about as little of
the contour or management of the
Superior National Forest as possible.
This would not be so alarming We're
he to keep his knowledge to HIM
self, but to blat it out among read
ers of a responsible newspaper dis
plays his asinity to the nth degree.
The Superior Nat onal Forest is
the only thing of it's kind in the
country today and requires manage
ment peculiarly all its own. From
observations made since the time
the Forest was established we have
arrived at the conclusion that the
men entrusted with its care are
more fitted to say what is need
for its maintenance than some space
filler who has probably never seen
forest and is only airing his views
CLEANED from some one with an axe