National Forest Personnel 



will be expected to perform later. At 

 times the older employees are brought 

 together for refresher courses. Corre- 

 spondence courses, in seasons when the 

 field-work loads are at the lowest, 

 round out the more formal types of in- 

 service training. In addition, annual 

 group meetings of rangers and super- 

 visors (together with more frequent 

 meetings of junior members of the re- 

 gional office working as a "junior staff" 

 on study projects of interest and value 

 to the regional forester and his imme- 

 diate assistants) are an important part 

 of the planned in-service training for 

 technical and administrative workers. 



The training of the seasonal person- 

 nel, including the fire lookouts, para- 

 chutists, the timber- and range-survey 

 crews, and other groups, is done both 

 on-the-job and at training camps as an 

 indispensable part of administration. 



Employees are encouraged to take 

 special short courses in universities and 

 colleges that relate to special subjects 

 for the benefit of practicing foresters, 

 graziers, and technicians in wildlife 

 management. Technicians engaged in 

 forest and range research are also en- 

 couraged to take suitable graduate 

 work and to seek higher degrees. 



To broaden his knowledge and 

 experience, a forest officer may be as- 

 signed at different times to work 

 outside the field of national forest ad- 

 ministration in activities such as re- 

 search or cooperative work. For the 

 same reason, and often because of the 

 stimulating effect it has on the work to 

 be done, a man may be transferred pe- 

 riodically to other forests and regions. 

 In scheduling transfers and assign- 

 ments of individuals, consideration is 

 also given the man's special aptitudes 

 and interests, which are determined 

 early in his career and then are de- 

 veloped through training. 



A guiding principle in planning 

 transfers is to try to assure sufficient 

 length of tenure in each assignment 

 to provide a reasonably stabilized or- 

 ganization in charge of each ranger 

 district and each other national forest 

 administrative unit. The resulting ben- 



665 



eficial effects include an increasingly 

 greater knowledge of the problems and 

 needs of the forest users and other 

 local people, continuity and develop- 

 ment of administrative and manage- 

 ment practices, and the welfare of the 

 employee and his family. Normally, the 

 minimum and maximum tenure guides 

 (and they are guides only) vary from 

 4 to 8 years for the key administrative 

 positions in the organization. 



For many years civil-service regu- 

 lations, in recognition of the type of 

 work involved, called for retirement of 

 rangers, forest supervisors, regional 

 foresters, and other national forest em- 

 ployees at 62 years of age. Amend- 

 ments to the Federal Retirement Act 

 in 1942 and in 1948, however, pro- 

 vided (among other important and 

 related changes) for the retirement of 

 that group of forest officers on an op- 

 tional basis beginning at age 60, after 

 30 years of service. 



The Forest Service, for the good of 

 the employees and for the good of the 

 organization, has encouraged the con- 

 tinuation of the tradition of retirement 

 at 62. 



The career idea is carried out as 

 above outlined by advancement as men 

 become more proficient in their work. 

 Forest supervisors, assistant supervi- 

 sors, and regional and national officers 

 have come up through the ranks and, 

 in turn, will be succeeded by other men 

 with a broad base of technical knowl- 

 edge, training, and experience. 



H. DEAN COGHRAN heads the Divi- 

 sion of Personnel Administration in the 

 Forest Service in Washington. A native 

 of Iowa, he entered the Forest Service 

 in 1920. He is a graduate of Illinois 

 College and Colorado State College. 

 He served as technical assistant on the 

 White River and the Routt National 

 Forests. In 1923 he was transferred to 

 the Forest Service regional office at 

 Denver, where he served in various 

 capacities, including 5 years in charge 

 of timber management, and assign- 

 ments in connection with the establish- 

 ment of the shelterbelt project. 



