RANGER SCHOOLS.* 

 By Henry S. Graves. 



During the past few years forest schools have been rapidly in- 

 creasing in numbers. About twenty forest schools, giving 

 degrees, are now aiming toward the high grade professional train- 

 ing. They purport to give a full training of advanced grade or to 

 prepare for post graduate work. The other institutions give 

 courses supplemental to agriculture or other major subjects. 

 Several western institutions are giving short ranger courses cover- 

 ing three or four months. These courses are of very great help 

 to the Forest Service. Many rangers take furlough to attend 

 them. But our greatest defect in forest education is the lack of 

 local ranger schools to train men not only for public but private 

 service. Our educational training is utterly out of balance, being 

 top heavy with high grade instruction. 



Clmracter and Location of School. In general, I believe that 

 the ranger school should be a separate school or academy, and not 

 a co-ordinate part of a university or college. I do not mean that 

 colleges or universities should not have charge of ranger schools, 

 but that the work should be separate and preferably in a different 

 location. The instruction is secondary in character and it is, 

 therefore, not feasible to make it a part of a college course with 

 its high educational requirements. Students who have reached 

 the college grade are ambitious for higher training and will de- 

 mand it. Colleges are ambitious and will in every case strive to 

 develop advanced courses if there is any excuse for it. I believe 

 that we have too many schools trying to give high grade instruc- 

 tion and that the attention of some of these institutions should be 

 directed to developing ranger schools. It would be a great deal 

 better if we had say ten advanced forest schools and twenty or 

 thirty ranger schools. 



The short ranger courses given at the western colleges in co- 

 operation with the Forest Service are good for the particular pur- 

 pose for which they are designed, namely, to supplement the 



*Read before the Conference of Forest Schools, December, 1909. 



