National Park Notes 



Report of Superintendent of National Parks for 1916 

 The annual report of the Superintendent of National Parks for the year 

 1916 contains a tremendous fund of information of vital interest and 

 gives in detail the plans and accomplishments of the National Park Ser- 

 vice. The following recommendations concerning the Ranger Service 

 are particularly important : 



I strongly recommend that each member of the corps be ap- 

 pointed in the National Park Service, rather than as at present to 

 the park in which they are to work, so that an employee in one 

 park may be readily transferred to another park, where his train- 

 ing and experience make him more valuable to the Service. 



The ranger force in reality makes the success or failure in ad- 

 ministering the parks, and I feel that there should be a civil-ser- 

 vice examination to determine the educational qualifications of the 

 rangers. While such an examination can not determine the most 

 important requirements, temperament, tact, etc., it would give an 

 assured fundamental base to build upon, and after one season's 

 trial, before a permanent appointment was made, the department 

 would know if the ranger had the desired all-around qualifications 

 for the ranger corps. 



The longer a man is in the service the more valuable he is, and, 

 therefore, I think a ranger should enter the service with the de- 

 sire of making it his life's work, and after the service is once fully 

 organized, promotions to higher positions should be made in the 

 corps, so that each man would have the fullest incentive to give 

 his best service, knowing that advancement would be based solely 

 on character and general efficiency. 



The suggestions concerning appropriations for road and trail construc- 

 tion are particularly pertinent and point out the tremendous waste that 

 is certain to result from piecemeal appropriation. It is questionable if 

 Congress can be induced to alter its "pork barrel" methods, which are 

 diametrically opposed to the greatest efficiency and economy of expen- 

 diture. Mr. Marshall also points out the great need of sanitation and 

 appropriate sewer systems in the various parks, which need is becoming 

 doubly important because of the continually increasing travel. 



Appended to this report are the reports of the various park supervis- 

 ors. Particularly interesting to us is the report of Mr. W. B. Lewis, 

 Supervisor of the Yosemite National Park. He points out the necessity 

 for suitable bridges across the river, to take the place of those that no 

 longer meet the existing requirements. He recommends the extension of 

 the Washburn Lake trail to join the Isberg Pass trail, also a new trail 

 from the McClure Fork of the Merced via Babcock and Emerick lakes 

 over Tuolumne Pass, to take the place of the present trail over the much 

 higher Vogelsang Pass. This is a most desirable change, as it will en- 

 able travel to pass from the Merced Lake region to Tuolumne Meadows 

 much earlier and with much less effort than via the Vogelsang route.* 



*We are informed that last fall a trail was built from Lake Tenaya via Magee 

 Lake to the Tuolumne River and thence down to the Waterwheel Falls in the main 

 Tuolumne Canon. This is a splendid piece of work, and the trail should be con- 

 tinued on down the Tuolumne Canon. However, members of the Sierra Club feel 

 very strongly that a trail should first be built from the vicinity of Hardin Lake near 

 the Tioga road down into Pate Valley, following the grade of the old Indian trail, 



