FIFTH NATIONAL CONSERVATION CONGRESS 181 



woods foremen, and other employees of lumbermen, might be trained in such 

 schools. Men of administrative ability should be selected and encouraged to feel 

 that the practical work will ultimately open important administrative positions 

 to them. Most institutions are not well prepared to train rangers and nursery 

 foremen together. The latter should be trained at a large nursery. The problems 

 of the nursery foreman are not those of the ranger. 



"Unless there are positions open to graduates of ranger schools, the men 

 are apt to feel a distaste for woods work of the lower grades, especially if their 

 school course has been long. The future of the graduates should be given careful 

 consideration before the school is opened. 



7. "There should be many ranger schools in the United States — in fact, there 

 should be at least one in each forest region. I believe in the future of men of 

 administrative ability, but the courses should be simple and short enough to 

 keep the men satisfied 'with the practical work for which they are needed. 



8. "The training should be chiefly local." 



Phiup T. Cooudge. 



"From my experience with the work here during the past four years and 

 one year at Colorado College I have learned that what I originally considered, and 

 what I should even now like to consider an ideal course, will not work out 

 practically. 



"I shall try to answer the various questions as presented in your inquiry, 

 but find that I shall need to rearrange the order somewhat to make my contentions 

 follow logically. 



5. "Ranger schools should be located with the forest schools already estab- 

 lished, or with the State universities or agricultural colleges, giving instruction 

 in forestry. It would not be necessary that these schools be located in forests 

 under management, and it would probably be preferable not to have them so 

 located. A few years of the influence of the university atmosphere is an important 

 feature in a young man's development. Furthermore, better apparatus for 

 laboratory work will be available at the University than at a field school. If the 

 work can be carried on at a regularly established forest school, it would un- 

 doubtedly prove most efficient. 



8. "The training should be chiefly local in character. The ranger's field of 

 operation is limited and his problems are, hence, such as would arise only within 

 a comparatively restricted district, such as several adjoining States. The ranger, 

 above all others, must be familiar with local conditions. His work will, probably, 

 always be largely administrative. The local conditions of the particular region 

 must be given special consideration in the preparation of a curriculum for a 

 ranger school. It should be very largely based upon the character and the past 

 training and experience of the men applying for instruction. 



"The ranger school at the University of Washington was organized chiefly 

 to help the young men already employed as rangers and guards to increase their 

 efficiency, and to prepare men already more or less familiar with the forest, 

 to take up the work. The men who applied for instruction were mostly men 

 of mature age, with very little previous schooling, but with a great deal of woods 

 experience. They also knew pretty definitely along what lines they were deficient. 

 To sum up in a word, the men who came to us, brought with them very definite 

 ideas concerning the subjects they needed, but they had a very meager scholastic 

 foundation upon which to build. 



"The conditions mentioned above are changing. Although the ranger is still 

 required to do a great deal of administrative work, he is required each year 

 to do more and more work that requires a knowledge of the technical subjects of 

 forestry. 



