448 AMERICAN FORESTRY 



assigned and is given a regular district to patrol. The 152 national forests, 

 which are located almost exclusively in the West, include a total area of nearly 

 200 million acres. The average area per ranger is 104,000 acres or approxi- 

 mately 168 square miles. This is necessary because of insuflScient funds to 

 provide rangers to make possible a more efficient patrol. 



The ranger's work lies almost entirely within the national forests. Seldom 

 may he leave his territory, especially during the dry .season when there is 

 danger of fire. There he lives and works, seldom even taking his 15 days 

 annual leave of absence. 



It is the policy of the Government to provide the rangers with houses as fast 

 as funds will allow. Many ranger stations have already been built where the 

 ranger may live with his family, if he has a family. But sometimes, when no 

 cabin has been provided, the ranger must build one himself. One ranger has 

 taken advantage of a hollow Big Tree log and within it constructed his cabin. 

 Othei-s provide for themselves substantial cabins, where they may live com- 

 fortably in spite of storms and rains and winter snows. 



Probably the first duty assigned to the new ranger is to make a trip 

 over "his beat." So he packs his blankets, cooking utensils, shelter tent and 

 other necessai"y equipment on a patient pack horse, mounts his saddle horse and 

 rides away, to be gone perhaps a week, perhaps a month. Sometimes he goes 

 alone, though occasionally some tourist will be his companion, or frequently in 

 summer, technical assistants may go with him part of the time to make scien- 

 tific studies in the forest. 



The route of the ranger frequently leads him through scenery that is 

 kaleidoscopic in its variation and beauty. His pathway often runs from the 

 lowest gates of some vast canyon, through mountain meadows carpeted with 

 aromatic blossoms that lift bright, communicative faces to greet the solitary 

 passer-by, up along some mountain trail where beetling walls overhang on 

 one side and a sheer precipice threatens on the other, until the uppermost 

 limits of the forest are reached amid the snow-clad summits. Perhaps he 

 may even ascend far above the clouds that hang about the lifted heads of 

 the highest mountains and look out upon a billowy sea of mist illumined by 

 the rays of the sun. 



Sometimes the ranger allows his faithful horse to rest and skirts the 

 shores of an Alpine Lake in boat or canoe. One ranger, in Montana, lives 

 almost continually in his canoe, patrolling the shores of a large lake. In 

 winter, the snow may be so deep that travel is impossible except by means 

 of snowshoes and sledge. 



But there is more for the ranger to do on his patrol trip than merely ride 

 gaily through the gi-eenwood like some knight of "merrier old England"; 

 invariably he carries with him a hammer and a number of cloth signs warning 

 campers against the danger of allowing their fires to get away from them. 



If a sale of timber is contemplated, the ranger must mark the trees that 

 may be cut, taking care to provide for thinning when necessary ; for the 

 removal of dying or mature trees where the stand needs to be replaced by 

 young growth ; and to get rid of defective trees as much as possible so as to 

 provide room for the better young stand beneath them. If there has been 

 a timber sale, he must see that the debris and brush is cleared up and properly 

 piled so as to prevent the spread of possible fires. And when a still day comes, 

 the brush thus piled is burned, so that it no longer is a menace to the forest. 

 This is often done when snow is on the ground to insure greater safety, since 

 then practically all danger of fire spreading is obviated. 



Another task which requires great tact and much practical knowledge 



