GOVERNMENT FOREST WORK 57 
Supervisors and assistant supervisors have to be 
men of experience in woods work, road and trail build- 
ing, the livestock business, and in all other lines of 
work carried on in the national forests; so the posi- 
tions are always filled by the promotion or transfer of 
experienced men from classified positions in the Forest 
Service.. Supervisors’ headquarters are located in 
towns conveniently situated with regard to the forests. 
Junior foresters (or technical forest assistants) are 
employed in the various subordinate lines of technical 
and administrative work on the forests under the 
direction of the supervisor. The position of junior 
forester is filled through a technical examination. 
After an apprenticeship period of not less than two 
years junior foresters who have rendered satisfac- 
tory service may be advanced in grade and assigned 
to such work as examining and mapping forest areas, 
designating timber to be cut in sales, surveying boun- 
daries, and conducting nursery work and forest 
planting. (Fig. 26.) | 
Every national forest is divided into ranger dis- 
tricts, with a district ranger in charge of each. 
Rangers perform the routine work involved in the 
3} supervision of timber sales, grazing, and free use and 
special use. They also help to build roads, trails, 
bridges, telephone lines, and other permanent im- 
provements on the forests. Physical soundness and 
»endurance are essential on account of the heavy labor 
} and exposure involved in such work as building im- 
provements and fighting fire. The forest ranger must 
also know how to pack supplies and find food for 
himself and his horse in a country where it is often 
searce. On the Alaska national forests travel is 
almost entirely by water, and the ranger must know 
how to navigate a seagoing launch. The position of 
ranger is filled through a civil-service examination, 
in which applicants are rated on the basis of a writ- 
ten test and also according to their education, experi- 
ence, and fitness. 
In addition to the different classes of forest officers 
mentioned, logging engineers, lumbermen, scalers, and 
