512 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 





THE CRANE VALLEY RESERVOIR OF THE SAN JOAQUIN LIGHT AND POWER CORPORATION, A LARGE 



USER OF THE SIERRA NATIONAL FOREST. 



cattlemen that supervised grazing did 

 not necessarily mean decreased returns. 

 The feeling of hope was displaced, 

 finally, with one which had as its chief 



j ' 



element the desire to cooperate with 

 Forest officers, and this feeling is the 

 one which is now so widespread as to 

 cause the knocker and the backbiter to 

 stand out as a distinct exception. 



This remarkable change on the part 

 of thousands of people of the West 

 -could never have taken place had not 

 the Forest officer been honest, unwaver- 

 ingly faithful to the cause of which he 

 was the representative, friendly with 

 his neighbors and filled with a desire to 

 win out against big odds by a tactful, 

 industrious and common-sense cam- 

 paign. That the great body of Forest 

 officers has been imbued with ideals of 

 courtesy, honor and industry is due 

 very largely to the remarkable character 

 of its leaders. A Forest officer's busi- 

 ness is everybody's business, to a far 

 greater degree than is true of an em- 

 ploye of a private corporation. This is 

 truer now than at the inception of For- 

 est administration, because the people 

 liave finally come to believe (and 

 rightly) that they really have a great 

 deal to do with the running of the Na- 

 tional Forests. It follows that extraor- 



dinary care must be used by the For- 

 est officer to treat all impartially, to 

 hide his personal grievances under a 

 cloak of official friendliness, to be pa- 

 tient in his dealings with people who are 

 not as well versed in Forest affairs as 

 he is, and to avoid promises where 

 there is any doubt of fulfillment. 



There is no regular eight-hour day of 

 labor for any permanent Forest officer, 

 for two reasons : ( 1 ) The work varies 

 from season to season, and during the 

 busy period of the year (which now, in- 

 cidentally, on a well-organized National 

 Forest extends well through the year) 

 the officer must generally be engaged 

 from daylight to dark to finish his du- 

 ties, and (2) criticism would arise if an 

 officer refused to do business out of 

 hours with a user who could not con- 

 veniently transact the business at an- 

 other time. A Forest officer must bear 

 this point constantly in mind, in order to 

 close any possible opening through 

 which criticism of lack of industry and 

 attention to duty might creep. 



A Forest officer should keep thor- 

 oughly posted on the sentiment of the 

 people in his locality, and where adverse 

 beliefs exist, should make it a point to 

 get on a friendly personal basis with 

 men who would have things otherwise, 



