The porester. 



Vol. V. 



SEPTEMBER, 1899. 



No. 9. 



The United States Forest Ranger System. 



An Official Review of the National Forest Reserves and their 



Administration. 



BY THE COMMISSIONER OF THE GENERAL LAND OFFICE 

 OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR. 



Much has been written as to the 

 theory of forest preservation and the 

 resulting benefits, but little is known, to 

 the general public, of the administra- 

 tive details in connection with the ob- 

 jects in view. It may be of interest, 

 therefore, to the readers of The For- 

 ester to be informed of some of the 

 machinery which experience has thus far 

 shown to be necessary and practicable. 



In the eleven States and Territories of 

 Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, 

 Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, South 

 Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyo- 

 ming there are 36 forest reserves, con- 

 taining an aggregate area of about 46, - 

 000,000 acres. These reserves are 

 divided into nine districts, each having 

 a general officer, known as a Forest 

 Superintendent, in charge. Each dis- 

 trict is divided into supervisors' dis- 

 tricts, the number depending on the 

 number of reserves, total area and diffi- 

 culties of supervision, as affected by 

 topography and liability to fires and 

 depredations of all kinds. For each of 

 these supervisors' districts there is ap- 

 pointed an officer called a forest super- 

 visor, who has direct charge of the re- 

 serve or a portion of a reserve forming 

 his district. There are 39 such super- 

 visors' districts Each reserve is di- 

 vided into patrol districts, the size of 



each patrol depending upon topography 

 and the liability to fires and depreda- 

 tions; and a forest ranger, whose head- 

 quarters shall be at some central point 

 in his subdivision, is appointed for each 

 such district. There are 350 patrol 

 districts, or rangers' subdivisions, in the 

 36 reserves. Two hundred and fifty rang- 

 ers for immediate duty were authorized 

 May 2, 1899, to serve until October 15, 

 1899. One hundred additional rangers 

 were authorized to enter upon duty July 

 15, to serve until October 15, 1899. The 

 rangers report to the supervisors and are 

 under their immediate supervision. The 

 supervisors report to the superintendents 

 and the superintendents report to the 

 Commissioner of the General Land 

 Office in Washington. 



The forest superintendents are di- 

 rectly responsible to the Commissioner 

 of the General Land Office for the 

 proper administration of the reserves. 

 They receive from the Commissioner all 

 orders and instructions, and are required 

 to see that they are carried out. The 

 forest supervisor is responsible for the 

 work pertaining to his district, and for 

 the proper discharge of duties by the 

 rangers, and reports to the superin- 

 tendent. The respective duties of these 

 officials are described in detail in the 

 following pages. 



