Size of State Forests 521 



may include those of a number of counties. A proposed scheme 

 of districting the State-owned forest land is as follows: 



District 1. To comprise all State-owned forest land located 

 in the northeastern part of the State. 



District 2. To comprise all State-owned forest land located in 

 the north-central part of the State. 



District 3. To comprise all State-owned forest land located in 

 the central part of the State. 



District -i. To comprise all State-owned forest land located in 

 the southern part of the State. 



Some have suggested a division of District 2 into two separate 

 districts on account of the large acreage of State-owned forest 

 land in it, and a division of District 3 into an eastern and western 

 part on account of its elongated form and its large acreage. A 

 few, rather small, and isolated areas, such as those located in 

 Dauphin and Westmoreland counties, may not be embraced by 

 the proposed districting. They must be treated independently or 

 included in the most convenient district. Future purchases by 

 the State may modify the proposed districting. 



Each District will be in charge of a forest officer known as a 

 District Forester. The duties of a District Forester may be limit- 

 ed to the forest land owned by the State, in which case he could 

 oversee 10 to 20 State forests with a total area of 200,000 to 

 400,000 acres, or they may embrace also other functions, namely, 

 the supervision of all Fire Wardens within the District, as well as 

 the giving of technical advice to private owners and co-operating 

 with the officers of Forest Protective Associations which are be- 

 coming numerous throughout the State. In the latter case he 

 would not be able to oversee nearly so large an area of State- 

 owned land. Each District will usually comprise a number of 

 executive charges formerly known as State Forest Reserves but 

 now known as State Forests. A State Forest then is an area in 

 charge of one executive officer known as a Forester. At the pres- 

 ent time the State-owned forest land of Pennsylvania is divided 

 into 49 State Forests with a technically trained Forester in 

 charge of each one. Each Forester is assisted by 1 to 6 Forest 

 Rangers and usually a permanent labor force. In some in- 

 stances the Forester is assisted by a recent graduate from the 

 Forest Academy who is serving a period of apprenticeship, usually 



