274 FEATURES OF FRENCH NATIONAL FOREST ADMINISTRATION 



correspond to the conservations in France except that the conservations 

 are really one-man positions and are consequently very much smaller 

 than the seven large centralized districts in the United States. On the 

 forests, the inspector corresponds to the supervisor, and the assistant 

 inspector to the deputy supervisor or forest examiner, except that the 

 assistant inspector may be in sole charge of a forest. The garde general 

 corresponds to the forest assistant in the United States; the ranger and 

 guard positions are the same except that in France these officers are 

 in charge of definite areas rather than on special projects, such as large 

 timber sales, as is often the case in the Western United States. In the 

 central bureau at Paris the rank does not differ from the rank on the 

 forests themselves. For example, a conservator or inspector may be in 

 charge of a bureau or section, respectively, whereas in the United States 

 a new position has been created, namely, that of assistant forester or 

 forest inspector, when an officer is given special administrative work 

 at the central bureau at Washington. In the Service des Eaux et 

 Forets the responsibility is essentially personal for all lines of work; in 

 the U. S. Forest Service there is a tendency to divide the work among a 

 staff of specialists. In France forest operations are largely controlled by 

 the working plan; at the time of writing there are no real working plans 

 in operation on U. S. National Forests (see p. 219). There is no position 

 in France corresponding to that of State Forester in the United States. 



Military Rank. — The corresponding military rank held by forest 

 officers in time of war is as follows: 



The Forest Service uniform is theoretically retained in time of war, 

 subject to changes made necessary by general changes in color or material 

 to conform with the Regular Army standard. It is customary to assign 

 the younger forest officers to line regiments (usually, if not always, to 

 the infantry) and the older men to executive and administrative work 

 of various kinds. ^^ 



Education. — The officers of the French Forest Service are recruited 

 chiefly from Nancy, the official State forest school established Decem- 



12 For a further discussion of administrative organization see French Forests and 

 Forestry, especially pp. 18-21, 53, 101-105, 123-128. 



