782 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Strength is given to the organization in 18 States by the legal pro- 

 vision that the State forester shall be a technical forester; in 24 States 

 there is no such requirement. The provision for a technical forester 

 is most striking in the southeastern group of States; it is noticeable 

 by its absence in five of the six New England States. Although the 

 laws of 24 States do not provide for technical foresters, the present 

 incumbents in 11 of those States, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi, 

 New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Okla- 

 homa, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Wisconsin, are technical men. 



Salaries of State foresters and their staffs conform pretty much to 

 State standards. For State foresters they vary from $1,800 to 

 $8,000, with a majority running from $3,000 to $5,000. In lower 

 administrative positions the salaries range from $1,200 to $3,000; 

 some exceed the last figure. In many States they are inadequate to 

 hold men of the caliber needed to meet the higher responsibilities or 

 to attract technically trained men to the arduous but less responsible 

 positions and retain them until they can be advanced. In these 

 States the salary scales must be readjusted if the brains, experience, 

 and stability essential to successful functioning of the organization 

 are to be looked for. 



That the State forestry departments are attempting to build up 

 their organizations with technical men is indicated by the number 

 employed, 327 in all. Pennsylvania leads, with 61, and is followed 

 by New York, with 57. The preponderance of such men in these two 

 States is to be expected, because they have acquired and are adminis- 

 tering large areas of forest lands; technical men are essential to the 

 successful development of forest lands. 



The number of part-time men employed is of significance in one 

 respect. They are usually fire wardens who function only during 

 the forest fire season. The number of such wardens is partly indica- 

 tive of State-wide interest in the control of forest fires and partly of 

 large areas of forest land in need of protection. The outstanding 

 States in this respect are Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Tennessee, 

 Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia. 



Nearly all the State organizations begin with a mere skeleton force 

 in State employ. County or town officers have commonly been 

 previously charged with the duty of suppressing forest fires by State 

 law or local custom. At the outset, the State forester has in some cases 

 been expected to rely on these local officers with the skeleton force 

 under him engaged mainly in assisting or nominally supervising their 

 efforts. Such a form of organization is highly unsatisfactory. When 

 the State forester either appoints the county or town forest-fire 

 officers or has the authority to disapprove and reject such men if 

 unsatisfactory, the organization is strengthened* tremendously. 

 Even under this arrangement, however, elements of weakness are 

 likely to show up with serious if not tragic consequences in periods 

 of extreme forest-fire hazard and forest-fire occurrence. This leads 

 to a gradual assumption by the States of the entire responsibility 

 and often the entire burden of forest-fire protection. It is a normal 

 trend in the interest of efficiency, and will be accentuated as time 

 goes on. 



The State organizations as a whole have able men at their heads; 

 their field force, when not subject to political control, is as com- 

 petent for its job as can be expected, sometimes more so, when the 



