The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1931-10-09
R0RT. A. TELLER
new SUPERVISOR
Mr.. Zeller on the Job at
National Forest
Office.

ROBERT A. Zeler mas accepted The
important assignment as Supervisor of
the Superior National Forest, and has
assumed duties at headquarters at Ely,
Mimi, according to E. w. Tinker upon
his return to the Regional Office in
Milwaukee, after an inspection OF the
work on the Forest.
Mr. ZeIler entered the Forest Ser
vice as a ranger on the Superior in
1917, and by well-earned promotion
through the grades of forest assistant
and forest examiner was appointed as
supervisor Of the TongaSs National
Forest in Alaska in 1922, which
position he has held until the present
transfer back to the Superior. He is
a native Of Pennsylvania and gradu-
ate of the Pennsylvania State College
of Forestry.
The supervisor of any national forest
must be manager in very real sense
of the word, Mr. Tinker said, and this
is particularly true OF the Superior
embracing a gross area Of some 1,700,-
600 acres west of Lake Superior, and
forming a part of the International
boundary line.
Financial management on the Ma
fact more important than IN commercial
corporations, for it concerns the whole
people The mere expenditure of
money is simple, but efficient eXpendi-
ture means pIan-wise programs. The
supervisor of a National Forest accepts
full responsibility for curtailment of
projects where the logic of events proves
this to be necessary, and he is held re-
Tn1- he init IF ln1
improvements TO be included IN his an
nual allotment estimates, Mr.. Tinker
declared.
1t is estimated that the Superior Ma
tional Forest contains billion and a
half board feet Of marketable timber.
About one-fifth Of it is saw timber
The principal species of softwood trees
are the true white pine, red pine, jack
pine, white spruce, black spruce, bal
sam, tamarack and cedar. The more
important hardwoods are the white
birch, yellow birch, aspen, ash, and
maple. The forest management plan
aims at selective cutting of trees when
they are mature, thus providing room
and sunlight for young trees While
the Forest Service controls the cutting
of timber upon the approximately one
million acres of GoVernment-owned
land, it has no authority to regulate
lumber operations upon the 578, 900
acres of privately owned land within
the forest boundaries.
The keeping out of fire is always a
great problem on the Superior Forest,
Mr. Tinker said but this is being solved
to a greater extent by the use Of n.y.
droplanes for protection and the trans
porting of small crews to fires before
they get a running start. Getaway
time and arrival at fires has been
greatly reduced, sometimes to a few
minutes by air where days were for
merly required. Maintenance of canoe
routes is still a major part of the
protection system.
Visitors silently navigating the canoe
routes may see old bull moose, king of
the North Woods, browsing in the
swamp SedgeS, and the deer come down
to drink in the evening At times bear
tire Of the native berries and venture
too near the campers bacon. Beavers
contribute much to eliminate portages
by their dams maintaining the water
trails Of the Superior Fish are in the
thousands OF lakes, and partridges in
the hills. Mallard and other ducks
feed on the wild rice. A large part
of the Forest lies within the Superior
State Game Refuge, and vacationistS
may as well leave their guns at home
and do their shooting by camera.
Breeding is unmolested in the sanctu-
aries, and the forest citizens, furred
and feathered, become almost tame, with
out the unnatural fear Of man. The
overflow into the open hunting areas
perpetuates the Ancient sport of man,
Mr.. Tinker concluded