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Sierra Club Bulletin 



many members of his staff are serving in various branches of the army. 

 Last spring the Forest Service made a quick survey of the points in the 

 California forests the destruction of which would benefit an enemy. 

 Maps of these localities were prepared and furnished to the War De- 

 partment. In the dangerous first weeks of the war the Forest Service 

 cooperated in the protection of these properties, and no loss occurred. 

 A military census of all members of the Forest Service was prepared, 

 thus helping to place each man where he could be most useful. Soon 

 after war was declared a survey made by the College of Agriculture of 

 the University of California showed that the forage and feed crops of 

 the State were only 65 per cent of the normal. Immediately the Forest 

 Service engaged in far-reaching and painstaking work to make every 

 acre of forage on the national forests fully available for the production 

 of beef, mutton, leather and wool. The result was that on June i there 

 were 23,000 more cattle and 71,000 more sheep on the national forest 

 ranges of California than there had been in any previous year. The 

 Forest Service took a large part in the draft registration under the se- 

 lective draft act throughout the mountain sections of twenty-two coun- 

 ties. The Forest Service has also actively cooperated in many ways 

 with the Committee on Resources and Food Supply of the State Coun- 

 cil of Defence. 



A Contribution to Recreation 



During the summer of 1917 four hundred thousand people entered the 

 Angeles National Forest for recreational purposes. Three cheers for 

 the Angeles, and three more for the multitudes who have the good sense 

 to use it ! During the past year the Forest Service built sixty miles of 

 new trail on the Angeles, and it expects to build fifty miles during the 

 coming year. The Southern California Section of the Sierra Club con- 

 tributed one hundred dollars toward the reconstruction of the old Buck- 

 horn Trail, now renamed by the Forest Service as "Sierra Club Trail." 

 There are now twelve hundred miles of trail within the forest, and it is 

 expected that by the summer of 1918 there will be signboards at every 

 trail intersection. Approximately one thousand summer residence per- 

 mits are outstanding on the Angeles. Because of the existence within 

 the forest of two of the largest game refuges in the State, deer are in- 

 creasing rapidly. 



Tahoe-Yosemite Trail 



During the 1917 field season the Forest Service completed the Tahoe- 

 Yosemite trail from Upper Echo Lake to the lower end of Echo Lake. 

 This brings the trail out to the Lincoln Highway. The work was done 

 in cooperation with the Western States Gas and Electric Co., which fur- 

 nished most of the labor. The trail built in 1917 is standard and of the 



