10 MISC. PUBLICATION 249, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
of the country. In addition, about 10,000 lookouts, patrolmen, fire fighters, 
and other nonprofessional workers are temporarily employed each year on 
the national forests during the fire season. 
Administration of the National Forests 
The national forests cover a total net area of approximately 180 million 
acres. Of this area more than 138 million acres are in the States west of 
the Mississippi River, chiefly in the mountains of the far West. About 
21 million acres are in Alaska, and aproximately 21 million acres in the 
eastern States and Puerto Rico. 
The protection, administration, and development of this vast area con- 
stitute one of the principal tasks of the Forest Service and occupy the time 
and energies of a large number of its men. The management of these 
forest properties distinguishes the work of the Forest Service from that of 
most Government bureaus. Its practical requirements have been met by 
a highly decentralized form of administration whereby the responsibility 
for handling local problems has been placed in the forest officers on the 
ground. 
Administration of the national forests necessarily centers in the Washing- 
ton office, to which are attached certain higher officers engaged in general 
direction and inspection; but for promptness and convenience of field ad- 
ministration 10 national-forest regions have been established—9 in the States 
and 1 in Alaska. Each region is under the direct charge of a regional for- 
ester; associated with him are such technical assistants as may be necessary 
for the conduct of the work. 
There are now about 155 national forests, averaging more than a million 
acres each. A supervisor is in charge of each forest, and his staff may in- 
clude an assistant supervisor and a number of technicians. ‘The forests are 
also divided into districts, each in charge of a district ranger, who is re- 
sponsible for the protection of this area and for the conduct of its business. 
During the field season, fire-control assistants and other aides are employed 
to supplement the regular force. 
The protection of the national forests from fire is of fundamental 
importance. Without adequate protection, all other efforts directed toward 
increasing the productivity of the forests might be entirely nullified. Con- 
tinuous effort has therefore been directed toward this objective. 
The use of the forests by the public is continually increasing and this 
has necessarily intensified the fire problem. In addition, it has necessitated 
the handling of an immense amount of current business. The large volume 
of business involved in the management of forest and forage and in the 
multiple use of land calls for constant and painstaking supervision. 
All the different lines of work on a national forest are handled by the 
regular administrative force under the immediate direction of the super- 
visor. Since the very beginning, an effort has been made to apply the best 
forestry practice practicable under existing conditions and the more tech- 
nical phases of the work have accordingly been handled as far as possible 
by the men with technical education—men who have entered the Forest 
Service as junior foresters and range conservationists. ‘These men have 
had to perform such duties as mapping and estimating the timber on the 
forest, marking the trees to be removed in timber sales, raising stock at 
nurseries for field planting, reforesting treeless areas by planting, and looking 
