Forestry Notes. 



83 



district and help them. His office is responsible for the organ- 

 ization and equipment of the ranger force, the patrol of the 

 forests, and the construction of headquarters, roads, trails, and 

 other permanent improvements; the occupancy of forest lands, 

 changes in forest boundaries, the accounts office, and the main- 

 tenance of the district office. 



Mr. John H. Hatton is in charge of the Office of Grazing. 

 He has been an inspector in this district for some time and is 

 thoroughly familiar with range conditions throughout the State. 

 His assistant, Mr. M. B. Elliott, was formerly supervisor of the 

 Tahoe National Forest. Besides the routine work of supervision 

 of the use of forest range throughout the State, this office will 

 co-operate with local livestock associations, the State Veterin- 

 arian's office, and the Bureau of Animal Industry in the enforce- 

 ment of quarantine regulations; and will direct the work of 

 exterminating coyotes, cougars, wild cats, and other animals 

 destructive to stock. 



The district organization will increase the opportunities for 

 investigative work. Studies to increase the utilization of National 

 forest timbers and find substitutes for those disappearing; the 

 compilation of statistics on the lumber industry and timber- 

 testing experiments in the Berkeley laboratory will be under 

 the direction of Mr. L. E. Hunt, chief of the Office of Products, 

 who has been in charge of similar work in California, Nevada, 

 and Utah. In addition, the chief of the Office of Products will 

 exercise general supervision over all timber-treating plants main- 

 tained by the service and will co-operate with private owners in 

 preservative methods of treatment for the timbers used in the 

 district. 



Mr. G. M. Homans, who has been Chief of Management in 

 the Washington office, is in charge of the office of Silviculture, 

 which will supervise the sale and free use of timber on National 

 forests, forest planting, and silvical studies. In addition to the 

 timber-sale business, which in 1907 amounted to over $100,000 in 

 this district, this office is ready to give advice in the management 

 of forest lands to owners throughout the State. 



The operation of a business of this size entails considerable 

 legal work. To handle this a law officer is attached to the district 

 officer, who, besides approving contracts and bonds prepared in 

 any of the branches and giving advice to those handling cases, 

 will also assist the United States Attorney in the prosecution of 

 criminal cases arising on the forests. Mr. E. A. Lane, a Cali- 

 fornian, well versed in the mining and water-right laws of the 

 State, is law officer for District No. 5. [F. E. O.] 



