The district forest ranger is today an administrator of a large area 

 and a supervisor of all the activities within his district. The business 

 he conducts is often the largest of any in the community. Both tech- 

 nical training and practical experience are required. Ranger jobs are 

 now filled through promotions, as are other key positions in the Serv- 

 ice. The length of time a technically trained man may spend in sub- 

 ordinate positions before he becomes a district ranger will vary both 

 with individual qualifications and with the opportunities offered. The 

 average forestry-school graduate should expect to spend at least 2 years 

 in his first position. 



One line of advancement may lead the young forester or range con- 

 servationist from an assistant ranger position to district ranger, then 

 assistant forest supervisor, from which he may advance to a super- 

 visor's position. Additional promotions may eventually take him to 

 the regional forester's office or even higher. 



Another line of progress may be from technical assistant on a forest 

 ranger district to technician on the supervisor's staff, followed by as- 

 signment as technician for an entire region. Other lines of promotion 

 may be taken in the research field— starting, for example, as a techni- 

 cal assistant and advancing to project leader or specialist on some 

 phase of the experimental work, or to a staff position at a forest and 

 range experiment station. In State and private cooperation, a young 

 forester is usually assigned to farm forestry or similar cooperative work 

 only after some preliminary experience. He may advance to regional 

 or headquarters staff positions in this field. Varying combinations of 

 these lines of promotion may be applied in individual cases. To 

 broaden his knowledge and experience, a man may be assigned at dif- 

 ferent times to national forest administration and to research or co- 

 operative work. Thorough technical training and wide experience are 

 now considered prerequisite to success in the higher positions. 



The career idea is thus carried out by advancement within the Serv- 

 ice as men become more proficient in their work. Forest supervisors, 

 assistant supervisors, and regional and national officers are men who 

 have come up through the ranks. 



Technical assistants to the ranger may be assigned to fire control, 

 road and trail construction, timber culture, or other special jobs. 

 Similarly, staff technicians directly under the forest supervisor may also 

 be assigned to any one of these functions on the entire forest: Fire con- 

 trol, watershed protection, timber plans and sales, wildlife, range man- 

 agement, improvements of various kinds, timber culture, recreation, 

 flood and erosion control, or general technical work. 



Experts for technical positions in a number of other lines of work 

 in the Forest Service are recruited by special civil-service examinations. 

 There are many of these jobs, such as: Lumbermen, land examiners, 

 forest ecologists, engineers in timber tests, chemical engineers, and 

 wood technologists. Clerks, stenographers, accountants, and similar of- 

 fice workers are likewise appointed from civil-service registers estab- 

 lished through the regular examinations for such positions. 



The force on the national forests comprises a number of grades. In 

 general, the base salary ranges are as follows: Technical assistant, 

 $2,300 to S3,640; district forest ranger, S2,980 to S4,300; staff techni- 

 cian, S2,980 to $5,180; administrative assistant, $2,980 to S4,300; assist- 

 ant forest supervisor, $3,640 to $5,180; forest supervisor, S4,300 to 

 $6,020. Similarly, the range of salaries in higher administrative posi- 



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