FIFTH NATIONAL CONSERVATION CONGRESS 175 



be engaged in. If a working forest can be secured near, a college or town, so 

 much the better. 



6. "It would certainly be preferable to have one member of the faculty 

 actively in charge of the forest proper, where the students secure their training, 

 but I believe the woods work should be part of the school routine. This, it seems 

 to me, is better than to extend the course over a longer period by using the 

 student as an apprentice. 



7. "I believe that- men should be trained, not only for ranger positions, but. 

 if possible, also for logging work. This would mean that lumbering would play 

 an important part in the curriculum. There is certainly need for ranger schools 

 in the United States, and I believe they should be located chiefly in the West 

 under present conditions, but would there not be a demand for private estates 

 in the East for men thus trained? I would not attempt to state just where they 

 should be located. 



8. "The best results in British India have been secured by training rangers 

 locally, in order to give them a more intimate insight into the work which they 

 must take charge of. The keynote to the British India forest schools is that they 

 are local in character. The same is true in Russia." 



T. S. WooESEY, Jr. 



"I have put down a few ideas as they occur to me and send them to you for 

 what they are worth : 



1. "Ranger schools should, I think, give a less technical and a more practical 

 course than professional schools. They should give a larger amount of field work, 

 including logging and lumbering from both the buyer's and seller's point of view. 

 At least one-half of the time should be taken up with field work. This field work 

 should be scattered as much as possible throughout the course. The training 

 should fit men for such positions as government rangers, guards. State fire 

 wardens, patrolmen, lumbermen, logging contractors, and managers of woodland 

 estates. 



2. "Engineering, road building, surveying, etc., should be largely practical 

 and manual rather than theoretical. The silviculture and management of forests 

 might be restricted to American practice rather than going back to the European 

 foundation of forestry. 



3. "The requirements for entrance should be a high school education, to- 

 gether with a general knowledge of country life. 



4. "A full one-year course would seem to me to be sufficient. 



5. "Ranger schools for the present should be located near organized schools 

 and colleges wherever these may be. The present demand for men with simply 

 a torestry education is not sufficient to warrant the foundation of a school with 

 competent men along all hues for this specific purpose, so that such a course will 

 have to be carried on in connection with the other recognized courses of some 

 institution. Probably the more ideal method to train rangers would be, as sug- 

 gested in your questions, by apprenticing them on a forest tract under organiza- 

 tion and management. At present there is no private estate on which a sufficient 

 number of competent men can be gotten together to keep up such a school. The 

 only possible way at present would be for the Government to conduct a ranger 

 school in connection with the administration of the national forests. If such a 

 school should be carried on at the district headquarters, enough technical men 

 could be secured to furnish adequate instruction, and enough experience in lum- 

 bering and other operations might be secured on the adjacent national forests. 

 Such a school would furnish the best possible training for government rangers, 

 but it is doubtful whether lumbermen would consider such a school suitable for 

 the training of logging or lumber experts. 



