OUR NATIONAL FORESTS 81 



direct supervision of a forest supervisor and is 

 split up into from 5 to 10 or more ranger dis- 

 tricts. Each ranger district is in charge of a 

 forest ranger who has an area of from 100,000 

 to 200,000 acres in his charge. 



The National Forests are, for the most part, 

 located in the mountainous region of the West, 

 with small scattered areas in the Lake States, 

 and the White Mountains, Southern Appala- 

 chians and Ozarks of the Eastern and Southern 

 States. Many of them are a wilderness of dense 

 timber. It is a huge task to protect these forests 

 against the ravages of fire. Fire fighting takes 

 precedence over all other work in the National 

 Forests. Lookout stations are established on 

 high points to watch for signs of fire. Airplanes 

 are used on fire patrol over great areas of forest. 

 Where railroads pass through the National For- 

 ests, rangers operate motor cars and hand-cars 

 over the tracks in their patrol work. Launches 

 are used in Alaska and on some of the forests 

 where there are large lakes, to enable the fire 

 fighters and forest guardians to cover their beats 

 quickly. Every year the National Forests are 

 being improved and made more accessible by the 

 building of permanent roads, trails and telephone 



