1 903 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



CAPTAIN GEORGE P. AHERN, 



DIRECTOR OF THE PHILIPPINE FORESTRY BUREAU. 



CAPTAIN AHERN was born December 29, 1859, and received his appointment to the 

 United States Military Academy at West Point from New York in July, 1878. Graduat- 

 ing four years later, he was assigned to duty with the infantry arm of the service, and 

 served at Forts Snelling, Minn., and Shaw and Missoula, Montana. He was appointed pro- 

 fessor of military science at the Montana College of Agriculture in 1891, and held that position 

 until 1898, with the exception of some details to recruiting duty in the East. He served in 

 Cuba in 1898, and since that time served at various official duties in New York and Washington, 

 until ordered to Manila, where he arrived early in 1899. While in the Philippines he was 

 entrusted with important administrative details, and was on duty with the Court of Claims 

 until April 14, 1900, when he was transferred to the Forestry Bureau. He returned to the 

 United States for a short time in 1901 to study forest methods and to secure trained foresters 

 for the Philippines service. 



Captain Ahern's first active interest in forest work was at the Montana College of Agricul- 

 ture at Bozeman, where, in addition to his duties as instructor in military tactics, he was 

 professor of forestry. He interested himself particularly in an exhibition of the commercial 

 and other timbers of Montana for the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893. 

 After his work with the Court of Claims in Manila, and his organization of the United States 



