36 OUR NATIONAL FORESTS 



time the most difficult positions on our National 

 Forests. 



The Forest Ranger's headquarters are usually at 

 the nearest business center to his district and if that 

 is not practicable permanent headquarters are pro- 

 vided on the Forest. In any case his station is lo- 

 cated as near to the center of the business activity 

 of his district as possible. If his headquarters 

 are centrally located in his district, trails, roads, and 

 telephone lines lead out from his cabin to all parts 

 of his district. His station is built and maintained 

 at government expense and usually has, besides 

 his living quarters, a barn, tool-house, pasture, cor- 

 ral, and other necessary improvements. 



The Forest Ranger performs such routine work 

 as the supervision of timber sales, grazing, free use, 

 special use, and other contracts and permits, the 

 carrying out of the protection and improvement 

 plans for his district, and other administrative 

 duties. The average Forest Ranger has a terri- 

 tory of from 75,000 to 150,000 acres to take care 

 of. On June 30, 1917, there were about 1,100 

 Forest Rangers employed on the National Forests 

 who were assisted by over 900 Assistant Forest 

 Rangers and Forest Guards. The protective force 



