Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1929-02-01
FOREST RANGER JOB
REQUIRES TRAINED MEN


or the hordes of job-seekers who
annually apply for positions as for
est rangers, the vast majority are
doomed to disappointment, says the
Forest Service, United States De-
partment of Agriculture.
Hundreds of the letters which
pour into the Forest Service offices
are undoubtedly inspired by mistak-
ell notions of the character of the
ranger job. 1t is believed by many
to be an opportunity for an outing
in the woods with pay, or a chance
to duplicate the career of twO-gun
man of the great open spaces as de
picted in a western film.
Although the Forest rangers job
is not without its thrills and adven-
tGre, it is one requiring hard work
and high qualifications. The ranger
must be able to endure the physical
hardships of fire fighting and other
heavy outdoor work; and in addition
he must have the technical know
ledge necessary to carry out the
plans for administration and devel-
opment of the forest resources in
his district. Rangers handle the
field work in connection with the
sale of timber, the grazing of live
stock, and many other activities on
the National Forests. They are call
ed upon to do surveying, timber
cruising and scaling, maintain tele-
phone communication lines and
mountain roads and trails. They
must have the executive ability to
organize and direct fire fighting
crews and get them into action
promptly at times when delay
means the loss of thousands of
dollars through the spread of the
flames. The rangers job, in short,
covers all the details of the man
agement of a forest property.
Each year the Forest Service re-
ceives between $4,000 and $4,000
letters-an average of between 40
and so a day-from persons seeking
employment in the service. AS
against this great volume of appli-
cations, there are only about 900
rangers in the Forest Service, and
the annual turnover is rarely more
than so. A great number of the ar
plications come from boys and
young men with little educational
training, whereas the ranger posi-
ton requires at least high school
education and additional technical
training and experience in forestry.
Many applicants have been induced
to pay for correspondence courses
x,-lioI o1o i'm without foundation tho +
they will qualify them for the work
In the National Forests east of the
Mississippi River, practically every
new ranger employed to fill vacan-
cies has had college training in
forestry, and in The western forests,
the proportion of college trained
rangers is increasing, as new men
are employed. Some 25 colleges
and universities confer degrees i'll
forestry, and some so others offer
forestry courses.
Permanent positions in the For
est Service are under civil service,
the lower onesc being filled by eX-
animation and the higher positions
by promotion. The law requires
that, whenever practicable, posi-
tions must be filled by citizens of
the State in which the vacancies
occur. Citizens of States which do
not have National Forests therefore
have little chance of obtaining
ranger positions, as they can be
considered only after the list of
qualified citizens of the States
which have forests has been ex-
hausted.