202 THE FOREST SERVICE AND THE NATIONAL FORESTS 



4. ORGANIZATION AND WORK OF A NATIONAL FOREST 



Each of the 150 National Forests of about one million acres in 

 extent is in charge of a Forest Supervisor, who has an office, with tech- 

 nical and construction assistants, located in a large or centrally sit- 

 uated community, convenient to serve the public who may have busi- 

 ness with the Forest Service as well as to inspect and study the 

 business of the forest on the ground. For example, the Forest Super- 

 visor's office for the Pisgah National Forest is at Asheville, North 

 Carolina; for the Mount Hood National Forest, at Portland, Oregon; 

 for the White Mountain National Forest, at Laconia, New Hampshire; 

 for the Angeles National Forest, at Los Angeles, California; for the 

 Boise National Forest, at Boise, Idaho; for the Allegheny National 

 Forest, at Warren, Pennsylvania; for the Huron National Forest, at 

 East Tawas, Michigan. 



A National Forest is divided for administrative purposes into 

 ranger districts, averaging five, each of which is in charge of a dis- 

 trict ranger, who directs all work of timber sales, planting, marking, 

 improvement cutting, grazing, fire protection, recreation, and Civilian 

 Conservation Corps camp work, in his district. During the summer, 

 temporary guards are employed to supplement the year-round force, 

 especially in the forests of severe fire hazards. These guards are used 

 on lookout towers, to patrol roads and trails for fire, building trails, 

 supervising recreational activities, and other temporary and seasonal 

 work. 



The average ranger district of all the National Forests covers 279,- 

 000 acres, has a protective force of five fire guards who work 3% 

 months per year, and has 10 fires per year that burn over 600 acres. 

 The average district has 22 timber sales and 31 grazing permittees, 

 taking in about $4000 in timber sale and grazing receipts. Each dis- 

 trict has an average of 48 special use permits and 17,000 visitors per 

 year. 



The number and character of the personnel in each National 

 Forest depend upon the intensity and nature of the work. Some forests 

 serve primarily grazing interests; others are chiefly valuable for tim- 

 ber growing or watershed protection, as in southern California. Still 

 others are chiefly valuable for recreational purposes. Many forests 

 may combine all these activities as well as many special projects 

 such as power projects and summer camps or planting, and fire 

 protection. 



The personnel and salaries of the various men who may be em- 

 ployed in the National Forests are as follows: 



