REPORT OF THE FORESTER. 



United States Department of Agriculture, 



Forest Service, 

 Washington^ D. 6*., October i, 1918. 

 Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a report of the work 

 in the Forest Service for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1918. 

 Kesp'ectfuUy, 



Henry S. Graves, 



Forester, 

 Hon. D. F. Houston, 



Secretary of Agriculture. 



THE FOREST SERVICE IN WAR TIMES. 



The war has profoundly affected the Forest Service. It has opened 

 new opportunities, presented new problems, and made some old 

 problems more pressing. It has emphasized the value of the work 

 of past years, which provided indispensable foundations for meeting 

 vital needs in the present crucial time. It has also led to the tempo- 

 rary abandonment of many of the old lines of work, the curtail- 

 ment of others, and the assumption of large new responsibilities. 

 There have taken place, in consequence, a readjustment and in some 

 fields a radical reorganization of activities. 



The demands of the Army for fighting men, the eagerness of 

 our personnel (most of whom are of age for military service) to 

 respond to the country's call, the special need of the Army for 

 men qualified to undertake tasks of an unusual character for which 

 the work of the Service has afforded preparation, the call of war in- 

 dustries and essential industries for similar men, the inevitable drain 

 on the personnel created by the opportunities for much more lucra- 

 tive employment in outside work, and the necessity of maintaining 

 an organization capable of carrying on the activities which must be 

 maintained as a part of the war effort, have all had to be accepted 

 and adjusted to each other. How this has been done, and to what 

 extent the Forest Service is meeting its responsibilities with the 

 Nation in arms, this report will seek to make clear. 



Two great fields of work are involved. That which will first be 

 dealt with concerns the National Forests. Integrally related as 

 they are to the economic life of the country and to the production of 

 necessities never before so urgently required as now, their con- 

 tinued administration along lines which would prevent the break- 

 down of any essential necessity was an obvious duty. No less was 

 it a public duty to release for use elsewhere all the man power that 

 could possibly be spared. 



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