Forestry Notes. 



79 



reduce by one fifth the quantity of timber used in the water or 

 in the ground. We can practically stop forest fires, at a total 

 yearly cost of one fifth the value of the standing timber burned 

 each year, not counting young growth. We shall suffer for timber 

 to meet our needs until our forests have had time to grow again. 

 But if we act vigorously and at once we shall escape permanent 

 timber scarcity." 



o The institution on December ist of six 



Purposes AND Scope OF a- 4. • ^ ca • .1 



T,, district offices m the West by the 



Work OF New District tt ^ ^ -c .0 • i.- • 

 ^ United States Forest Service, a big piece 



Administration of , 1 u- u 1. • . i. f a 



-r- work which has just been completed, 



National Forests. • , 1 ^ 1 • , 



involves a complete change m the ma- 

 chinery of this branch of the Government as regards the handHng 

 of National Forests. As a result of the reorganization, the Forest 

 Service force at the headquarters in Washington has been re- 

 duced to the general administrative officers and to those who are 

 conducting the investigative work of the Service outside of the 

 National Forests. 



The six districts, which have the same boundaries as the old 

 inspection districts, will be in charge of six district foresters, 

 with headquarters in Denver, Colorado; Ogden, Utah; Albu- 

 querque, New Mexico; Missoula, Montana; San Francisco, Cal- 

 ifornia; and Portland, Oregon. The fifth district includes Cal- 

 ifornia and southwestern Nevada, headquarters San Francisco, 

 California. For nearly a year preparation for the district organi- 

 zation has been going quietly but steadily forward. This has 

 thrown an additional burden upon a force already excessively 

 busy, but the work has been accomplished and accomplished on 

 time. The transition has been particularly remarkable because 

 it involved no material delay in the transaction of National 

 Forest business while the change was going on. 



"The Forest Service," said Gifford Pinchot, United States 

 Forester, "is putting a large part of its work into the field where 

 it belongs. . . . The district organization will mean a much freer 

 use of the National Forests by the people, because there will not 

 be the delay inevitable so long as National Forest business is 

 handled from Washington. It is also going to mean that there 

 will always be officers with the power to make decisions, near 

 the ground, who can look into the facts for themselves, wherever 

 necessary, without having to decide them at long range. I 

 beheve every man who uses the National Forests will realize 

 these things inside of six months." 



_ The estimated receipts for the National 



Receipts from the p^^^^^^ p^^^^^^ ^^^^1 y^^, 



National Forests. 1908-1909 will be approximately $2,000,- 

 000, making the receipts from each of the six districts range 

 from $275,000 to $350,000. A national bank in each district is 



