FORESTERS AND WOODSMEN IN WAR WORK 



723 



sweaters in the making has been received with great joy. 

 We are so near to the fighting line that we can hear the 

 guns booming away when it is at all quiet. 



"I am enclosing the names of the men in Companies D 

 and F that desire sweaters, all of them being men who 

 do not possess such articles and who have signed up for 

 the same. I have written the captains of the other com- 

 panies to send you similar lists for themselves, and I 

 think it would be well if it could be done, to send the ar- 

 ticles for each company direct to it. We have not re- 

 quested scarfs or wristlets believing that men in other 

 forms of work could use those articles to better advan- 

 tage." 



Impetus was given enlistments in the Forest regiments 

 late in November by the announcement of the chief of en- 

 gineers that after December 15 no man of draft age could 

 voluntarily enlist. Accompanying this announcement 

 was a statement calling attention to the advantage of 

 skilled men enlisting before the expiration of the time 

 limit in order that they might select the organizations in 

 which they preferred to serve. "By doing this," said 

 Major General Black, chief of engineers, "each man can 

 render his country a greater service than by waiting foi 

 the draft and can also be placed where his experience and 

 training will make the service better and more profitable 

 for himself." 



In addition to its contributions of men to the Forest 

 Regiments the United States Forest Service has been 

 called upon for various forms of activity in connection 

 with war work. 



During December there were demands for lumber 



men in the aviation corps of the army. These men were 

 wanted for service in 12 large construction squadrona 

 being organized at the barracks at Vancouver, Washing- 

 ton. The woodsmen thus enlisted were for work in con- 

 nection with the timber needs for airplane construction. 

 It is probable that men from the Service and lumbermen 

 will be needed as officers. 



The Signal Corps has asked for assistance in the prep- 

 aration of purchase specifications for propeller woods. 

 The primary object is to reduce handling through a right 

 selection at the source of supply. 



The Forest Products Laboratory of the Forest Serv- 

 ice, upon the request of the American Bureau of Ship- 

 ping, is now revising the rules of the Bureau governing 

 the use of wood in ships. The Bureau of Shipping is an 

 organization representing shipbuilders, ship owners, and 

 marine insurance companies, like the Lloyd's Agency in 

 England. Its classification of ships governs the rating 

 on which insurance depends ; hence its rules have a very 

 important influence in all shipbuilding in the United 

 States. The present building program of the Emergency 

 Fleet Corporation is governed by the rules of the Bu- 

 reau practically in the same way as is construction for 

 private corporations. The Forest Service will therefore 

 exercise an important influence upon the technique of the 

 emergency construction. 



The Forest Service has also been working with the 

 Navy on kiln construction and methods of storing kiln- 

 dried lumber for use in airplanes. Co-operation with the 

 Navy has also taken the form of inspection of lumber 

 for use in airplane construction and assistance in prepar- 

 ing specifications for material. 



TJJ7ILL C. Barnes, assistant United States Forester, 

 "^ has returned from a five-month field trip. He re- 

 ports that about 75,000 head of sheep grazed last sum- 

 mer on range made accessible at the head of Lake Chelan 

 by building a barge with a capacity of 2,703 head of 

 sheep. The barge was built by the stockmen at the sug- 

 gestion of the Forest Service, and couveys the sheep 

 from the foot of the lake to its head, about 50 miles, 

 where they land on high summer range that could not 

 otherwise be reached. Adjoining Canadian range affords 

 room for additional sheep, which the Dominion authori- 

 ties are willing to have admitted by the Forest Service. 



'T'HREE cases of livestock losses have been reported 



1 



in which the owners have suspected enemies of the 



Government. One sheep man in South Park lost in a 

 single night 1,000 sheep, for which he had just paid $14 

 a head. While it is possible that the reported losses were 

 due to poisonous plants, the State Veterinarian did not 

 find evidences of poison, but thought the loss might 

 have been caused by contagious pneumonia. The other 

 two were cattle cases. Forest officers have been urged to 

 exert unusual vigilance, particularly in the matter of 

 looking into the presence of strangers in the vicinity of 

 ranches and on the mountain ranges. 



T^ilSTRICT Forester F. A. Silcox, of Missoula, Mon- 

 '^ tana, has resigned from the Forest Service to accept 

 a temporary position as special assistant to the Secretary 

 of Labor. In that capacity he will undertake an investi- 

 gation of labor conditions in the Pacific Northwest. It 

 is expected that after his work there is completed he will 

 resume his regular duties with the Forest Service. Mr. 

 Silcox had been commissioned as captain in the 20th 

 Engineers (Forest) and was to have been called for 

 service in a short time. He resigned his army commis- 

 sion in order to take up his new work. 



fT^HE Forest Service was represented at the recent 

 -'- Portland Land Show by a forest fire exhibit, which 

 attracted considerable attention. This exhibit showed 

 apparatus and tools used by the Service in its fire protect- 

 ive work and a number of bromides showing the effects 

 of uncontrolled forest fires. 



'T'HE Forest Service will again co-operate with the 

 *- Weather Bureau in keeping a record of snowfall 

 on the National Forests this winter. Snow stakes will 

 be read by rangers at frequent intervals. From the data 

 obtained the Weather Bureau is able to approximate 

 stream flow in the region for the succeeding summer. 



