ORGANIZATION OF THE FOREST SERVICE 193 



2. EXTENT AND LOCATION OF NATIONAL FORESTS 



The National Forests and the purchase units cover a total net 

 area of about 170 million acres. They include about 134 million 

 acres in the so-called public land states west of the Mississippi River 

 (located principally in the Rocky Mountains, Sierra Nevada, and the 

 Cascade ranges in the West) , more than 14 million acres in the east- 

 ern, southern and Lake States, and over 21 million acres in Alaska. 

 There are some 20 million acres of private or alienated holdings within 

 the exterior boundaries of these National Forests, making the total 

 gross area of our National Forests about 190 million acres. Through 

 purchase and land exchanges these areas are being consolidated so that 

 solid blocks may be provided for the purpose of more efficient manage- 

 ment and protection. 



This vast area is more than 5 times the area of the State of Penn- 

 sylvania and includes about 600 billion board feet of standing timber 

 of merchantable size. It is divided into approximately 150 National 

 Forests, averaging somewhat over a million acres each. This is done 

 for administrative purposes. A million acres is an area approximately 

 40 by 40 miles square in extent, or about 1600 square miles. 



3. ORGANIZATION OF THE FOREST SERVICE 



The administration of the Forest Service is centered at Washington, 

 D. C., under the Forester, where the work is divided into the follow- 

 ing principal branches: 



1. Finance and accounts. 



2. Operations (fire control, personnel, supplies and equipment, 



etc.). 



3. Forest management (timber sales and surveys, planting, pest 



control, etc.). 



4. Range management (reconnaisance and inspection). 



5. Lands (acquisition, exchange, records, claims, and uses). 



6. Engineering (roads, trails, waterpower, bridges, maps, and sur- 



veys) . 



7. Public relations (cooperation with states and private owners, 



information and education). 



8. Research with divisions of silvics, range research, forest 



products and forest economics, and with general charge of 

 the experiment stations and the U. S. Forest Products Labora- 

 tory at Madison, Wisconsin. 



