first logging operation picking up the odds and ends in the more isolated 

 places either as shingle bolts or sawlogs. Small operators may log such 

 chances and make a reasonable profit, where with a larger operation it 

 would not pay. A Forest officer assigned to timber sales should be on the 

 alert to see and suggest any such chances as this, for after the logger has 

 left a given locality, these small isolated patches of timber may never be 

 utilized. 



Another phase of timber sale work of great importance is fire preven- 

 tion and control. Many of the most disastrous fires in the history of this 

 region have started from logging operations. The most prevalent source 

 of fires seems to have been from donkey engines, but locomotives, espe- 

 cially those burning wood, have contributed materially to the total number 

 of fires started. Under Government contracts, these engines must be well 

 screened and equipped with adequate fire fighting devices. Logging opera- 

 tors are now required to build fire lines of sufficient width to prevent the 

 spread of fire beyond the sale boundary should one get started. Just how 

 and where these fire lines are to be built is a matter for the Forest officer 

 to decide, and this requires a knowledge of, the character of slash fires. 



Forest Service timber sales are conducted in a manner consistent with 

 practical logging. They are conducted in a way that will get the best 

 utilization possible from the present stand, and at the same time make 

 provision for the proper establishment of the next timber crop. 



SONG OF THE FOREST RANGER 



A. G. JACKSON, '09. 



He climbs the hills and he treads the trails 



In the forest's wide extent; 

 When nightfall comes and the day is done 



He pitches his shelter tent; 

 Alone he lies by his little fire 



In the woodland's mystic shade; 

 At morning's dawn he must go on 



At his healthful forest trade. 



He spots the trail and he makes the map 



That shows where the timber stands, 

 He builds the bridge and telephone line 



With his strong and skillful hands, 

 He plants new trees on the barren hills, 



Where but blackened snags remain, 

 By his work he hopes that the naked slopes 



Will be clad in green again. 



Sometimes he fights a forest fire 



To save the woods from death, 

 And risks he takes, and life he stakes 



In the red flames' smoking breath. 

 To the ranger true I say "God speed" 



And give a hearty hail 

 To the man alone, far from his own, 



Who knows no word for fail. 



27 



