A Home on the National Forest. 



THIS IS THE RESIDENCE, WHICH HE OWNS, OF A SMALL USER OF THE SIERRA NATIONAL FOREST. 



FOREST SERVICE AND PUBLIC 



By Paui< G. Redington 

 Supervisor Sierra National Forest, California 



IT stands to reason that the adminis- 

 tration of the Forest Service will be 

 judged with favor by the users of 

 the National Forests and the public 

 'generally, if fairmindedness, tact and a 

 desire to meet the users more than half 

 way preponderate in the make-up of the 

 average Forest of^cer. That these 

 qualities have in the main governed the 

 attitude of Forest officers in the past 

 nine years is patent from the changed 

 reception which the policies of the For- 

 est Service are now accorded by the 

 vast majority of people who do busi- 

 ness on the National Forests. At 

 first there was distrust and a feeling 

 that unnecessary paternalism was being 

 foisted upon a people who heretofore 

 had been perfectly well able to handle 

 their affairs without advice from any 

 official. There were men, also, who ap- 

 preciated that regulation and super- 

 vision of the timber cutting and grazing 

 and the disposal of lands meant to them 

 a decreased revenue, at least for a few 

 years. The antagonistic attitude of such 

 men could with difficulty be changed to 



a friendly one, even by the exercise of 

 fair play. This class of opponents to 

 the Forest policy was, however, in the 

 minority, and it was up to the Forest 

 officers to concentrate rather on the dis- 

 gruntled majority or those people who 

 v/ere suspicious of the intent of the 

 Government and skeptical of the suc- 

 cess of any administration of the for- 

 ested areas. 



It has been most interesting to note 

 the various transition stages of senti- 

 ment of the users toward the Service 

 and its men. The originally hostile po- 

 sition was changed slowly to one of 

 more or less indifferent acquiescence, as 

 it became apparent that the Forest ad- 

 ministration had come to stay. As one 

 user was heard to say, years ago, 

 "These rangers think they can run 

 things — let 'em go to it." This attitude 

 of aloofness was presently superseded 

 by one of hope when it developed that 

 the local users and the small men were 

 constantly getting the square deal 

 which had been promised ; and when, 

 for instance, it was brought home to the 



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