202 Forestry Quarterly 



in District 3 by the District Forester after a study in part of 

 the organization perfected by Major Hine for the Southern 

 Pacific and Union Pacific Lines. Such a change is gratifying, 

 since it is beHeved necessary for efficiency to have all assistant 

 district foresters undertake general inspection and continue 

 familiar with the conditions in other lines of district activity. It 

 is safe to say that intelligent general inspection is cordially 

 welcomed by most forest supervisors. 



The idea underlying this change is that the acting district 

 forester is chief of staff. One reason why, in past years, this 

 scheme did not succeed as well as it might have, was because the 

 acting district forester was supposed to be responsible for 

 routine in his own office as well as for the routine going over the 

 district forester's desk. According to the latest scheme, the as- 

 sistant district forester, while acting district forester, will 

 not only sign all correspondence from his own office, but will 

 have routed over his desk (while acting district forester) for 

 information and review all letters from all offices. It is very 

 welcome to see that the plan calls for the rotation of all as- 

 sistant district foresters as acting in charge of the district. The 

 officer temporarily in charge of the office whose assistant dis- 

 trict forester is acting as chief of the district will handle the 

 work just as if this officer were actually absent. 



Another variance in organization has been the relative size of 

 the units under one supervisor in the various districts. Usually 

 there are administrative reasons for placing a large or small 

 area under one man. In the words of a Western officer : 



"The difference in the size of the Forest Units in the various 

 Districts is not so pronounced at the present time, with the 

 exception, perhaps, of District 2, where the tendency has 

 always been toward relatively small units. District 4, with 

 an average Forest Unit area of 960,000 acres, probably 

 occupies a middle-ground. The chief justification for 

 the system or organization prevailing in District 4 is 

 found in the intensity of the grazing use, and the large volume 



of free use business and small timber sales. Upon the Forest 



over 2600 grazing permits are issued annually, or a greater 

 number than the total number issued in at least one or two of the 

 other National Forest Districts. There are several other Forests 

 where the number of grazing permits is considerably over 1,000. 

 The population is relatively dense surrounding the Forests in 

 Utah, the San Pete and Castledale valleys, which lie east and 



