FOREST ASSISTANTS IN THE FOREST SERVICE. 

 By Theodore S. Wooi,sey, Jr. 



The question of personnel is one of the important problems of 

 the Forest Service. The Supervisor is riomanding a better class 

 of Rangers and Forest Assistants, because the District office 

 necessarily must insist on better results from the Supervisors, 

 due in turn to the requirements of the Washington office. Two 

 years ago the demand for Rangers and Forest Assistants could 

 not be filled ; last year a number of Rangers were furloughed and 

 there was a Forest Assistant waiting list. This "waiting list" is 

 going to result in an automatic raising of the entrance standard, 

 because it will mean that only the better qualified men can secure 

 positions. It will also turn a considerable number into private 

 work as consulting foresters and "lumbering assistants" — an 

 excellent thing for private forest management. No boudt we 

 shall see within the next ten or fifteen years a corps of private 

 foresters, even more practical and as good silviculturists as those 

 who enter the Federal Service, if not better. The private land 

 owners of Austria have, it is believed, secured fully as progres- 

 sive men as has the State, and perhaps more so. 



Yet there will always be competition for the federal vacancies 

 and consequently it may be timely to review briefly why some of 

 the recent forest school graduates have failed to measure up to the 

 requirements. One officer puts the case thus: 



"It is not often that Forest Assistants fall clear down, 

 but sometimes during the first year and in some cases the 

 first two years, a great deal of their work is wasted and 

 advancement is delayed by their lack of sympathy and 

 understanding of the class of men with whom it is neces- 

 sary for them to work, both as Rangers and users of the 

 Forests." 



Another officer writes : 



" * * The personal make-up of the men seems to be 

 largely the reason for the lack of success of some *." 



