NATIONAL FOREST WORK 



The Resignation of District Forester Chapman 



C. S. Chapman, district forester of Dis- 

 trict 5, United States Forest Service, has 

 resigned from the Service to become secre- 

 tary of the Oregon Forest Fire Association. 

 He is succeeded as district forester by 

 George H. Cecil, formerly associate district 

 forester. In one sense Mr. Chapman's 

 resignation is a loss to the Forest Service 

 and to the government. In another it is a 

 gain, for he carries into his new field of 

 work the principles and methods of the 

 Service and through him these are really 

 e.xtended over a broader field. It is worthy 

 of note that when these large associations 

 of lumbermen in the Northwest undertake 

 to deal with this problem of fire protection 

 and forestry on a large scale, they select 

 men from the Forest Service to take charge 

 of the work. This is not only a high com- 

 pliment to the efficiency of the Service and 

 the value of its work, but it is the best 

 possible answer to the criticisms of the 

 Service that are so frequently made by 

 politicians and others in that section of 

 the country. Mr. Chapman entered the 

 Forest Service in 1900 when not over a 

 dozen men were employed in Its work. 

 He. therefore, represents all the best tra- 

 ditions which have grown up in the Service. 



Grazing Examiners 



Examinations, which were held February 

 23 and 24 for three grazing examiners for 

 the Forest Service, indicate the establish- 

 ment of a new position in the Service. 

 These positions w-ill pay a salary of twelve 

 hundred dollars a year at entrance. The 

 applicants must be at least twenty years 

 old and possessed of not less than one 

 season's experience in handling range stock, 

 together with one year of technical training 

 in specialized botanical study. Through 

 the work of these examiners it is intended 

 to make every acre of national forest range 

 produce as much forest as it is capable of 

 doing, consistently with the carrying out 

 of the other purposes for which the na- 

 tional forests are maintained. In times 

 past the ranges have been abused by over- 

 crowding. To enable overgrazed areas to 

 recuperate and to prevent the extension of 

 overgrazed conditions in new areas, the 

 amount of stock was everywhere carefully 

 prescribed. The results were then observed 

 and if it appeared that there was still 

 over-use of the range, the numbers were 

 cut down still further. On the other hand. 



where recuperation had taken place the 

 allowance of stock was correspondingly in- 

 creased. Through the appointment of 

 trained botanists and men of practical ex- 

 perience, the best scientific knowledge will 

 be applied to the study of the problems 

 of forage production and utilization in the 

 forests. It is hoped by the introduction 

 of new forage plants to increase the area 

 of range available. 



National Forest Fire Losses and Range Use 



The final reports by national forest offi- 

 cers of their examination of lands burned 

 over in the forest fires of last summer 

 in Washington and Oregon show that the 

 national forest timber loss in these states 

 is about 700,000,000 feet, somewhat less 

 than was indicated by the estimates made 

 shortly after the fires. Of the forests in 

 these states that on which the fires 

 extended over the greatest area was 

 the Colville, where 160,000 acres were 

 burned. These fires were chiefly surface 

 fires which are far less destructive than 

 fires which travel through the crowns of 

 the trees. It is considered by the forest 

 officers that the fires in this forest show 

 the value, from the standpoint of fire pre- 

 vention, of proper utilization of the range 

 under regulated grazing. Large parts of 

 this forest and also of the Chelan, Ok- 

 anogan and other forests are not used by 

 stock because of their inaccessibility. The 

 dry grass and other herbage both spread 

 the flames and made them fiercer and more 

 destructive than they would have been if 

 the land had been grazed. One of the ob- 

 jects of national forest administration is 

 to open all available range to the fullest 

 use consistent with the preservation and 

 protection of forest growth and water 

 supply. 



An Eucalyptus Experiment 



The rangers of the United States Forest 

 Service, under the direction of F. M. Grant, 

 are to make an experiment in the planting 

 of eucalyptus in the southern California 

 foot-hills. One hundred thousand trees of 

 selected and hardy varieties are to be set 

 out where they cannot be irrigated and will 

 be left to shift for themselves. This is 

 wholly an experiment and represents an 

 effort to put into use large areas of soil 

 that is proven to be fertile by its perennial 

 crop of undergrowth but is useless for ahy 

 ordinary purposes because of its rough- 



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