42 SURVEYS OF FOREST RESERVES. 



recovery from them may reqixire. If irregularities are allowed to creep 

 into the management of Government forest lands they will inevitably 

 be followed by serious injury from overcutting. The temptation to 

 commit this fault is always great, and it can only be restrained by tlie 

 stability and high character of the management. Constant changes in 

 the treatment to which forest lands are subjected can not but residt in 

 injury to the forests, laxity in the forest service, and a very serious loss 

 of prestige, and hence of support, in the public mind. 



3. THE PERMANEXT EMPLOYMENT OP TECHNICALLY TRAINED FOREST OITICEES. 



Stability in the management of forests is to be secured only by per- 

 manence in the personnel which has it in charge. Technical training, 

 indispensable to forest management, can be obtained only in men who 

 make forestry their profession. The demand for such knowledge in 

 this country outside of Government employ ment is at present so small 

 that young men of adequate character and ability can not be expected 

 to undergo the necessary training without a reasonable expectation of 

 permanent work. This is but to say, in another form, that the neces- 

 sary grade of skill and quality of work can only be had from men who 

 expect to spend their lives in forestry. The peculiar responsibilities 

 involved, the residence of forest officers far from centers of population, 

 and the high standard of fldelity, honesty, and ability required for this 

 work, demand as the essential of Government forest management,in this 

 country as in all others, the selection of technically trained men on the 

 basis of fitness alone, and their permanent employment during efficiency 

 and good behavior. The difficulty of getting rid of inefficient men is 

 not the least of the embarrassments which their presence may involve, 

 as has been abundantly shown in the experience of other governments. 

 The temptation to over-cutting, already referred to, may be used as 

 an illustration. To cut freely may be safe or it may involve the ulti- 

 mate impoverishment or destruction of the forest. In either case it may 

 add greatly to the popularity of a forest officer, and perhaps to his 

 professional reputation as well, by affording supplies of timber and 

 results in money not otherwise to be obtained. Even thorough inspec- 

 tion may fail to discover the danger during the earljr stages of a forest 

 administration, when exact data regarding the forest are scarce or 

 lacking altogether. The only sufficient safeguard against this danger, 

 and many others, is to be found in the creation of a professional esprit 

 de corps, and this is impossible without a professional training. The 

 important measures proposed in this report depend in every case for 

 their success in operation upon the establishment of a forest force on 

 the lines just described; and these measures are recommended with 

 the proviso that they can be expected to succeed only on this con- 

 dition. 



The question may be raised whether, during the earlier stages of 

 forest administration, when the refinements of forest management are 

 both undesirable and out of reach, the necessity for the employment 

 of technically trained men is as great as it is here made to appear. 

 The answer is to be found in the crucial importance of beginning right. 

 The traditions of any service necessarily determine its character to a 

 very large extent, and its future complexion must necessarily be tinged 

 by its beginnings. The confidence and good will of local populations 

 are an essential part of the working capital of a forest service, and at 

 no time can they be won or lost so easily as when the first impressions 

 are made. Further, the danger of mistakes that will seriously aft'ect 



