(p. 82)

On December 17, 1904, the President signed the following order:

 In the exercise of the power vested in the President by section 1753 of the Revised Statutes and act amendatory thereof:

 It is ordered, That all persons employed in the field and in the District of Columbia in the "protection and administration of forestry reserves in or under the General Land Office of the Interior Department" be classified and the civil-service act and ruled applied thereto, and that no person hereafter appointed, employed, promoted, or transferred in said service until he pass an examination in conformity therewith, unless specifically exempted thereunder. This order shall apply to all officers and employees, except persons employed merely as laborers, and persons whose appointments are confirmed by the Senate.

(p. 83)

 This order classified the whole forest-reserve service and placed it under the civil-service law. On February 1, 1905, by act of Congress, this service was transferred from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Agriculture without modification of the above order except in the further restriction entailed by the following section of the act:

 SEC. 3. That forest supervisors and rangers shall be selected, when practicable, from qualified citizens of the States or Territories in which the said reserves, respectively, are situated. (See Appendix, p. 105.)

 By order of the Secretary of Agriculture dated February 1, 1905, the whole forest reserve service was placed in the Forest Service, under the direction and control of the Forester.
 
 

The permanent field force of the forest reserves now contains the grades of forest inspector, assistant forest inspector, forest supervisor, deputy forest supervisor, forest assistant, forest ranger, deputy forest ranger, assistant forest ranger, and forest guard.

 The reorganization of the forest reserve service take place as the necessary funds, and as men of the required training and experience, become available. Except in the case of forest inspector, assistant forest inspector, and forest assistant, whose compensation will depend on varying circumstances, pay will be fixed as follows:

 Forest supervisor ................ $1,800 to $2,500 (per year)
Deputy forest supervisor .......... 1,500 to 1,700
Forest ranger ..................... 1,200 to 1,400
Deputy forest ranger .............. 1,000 to 1,100
Assistant forest ranger ............. 800 to 900
Forest guard ......................... Up to 720

(p. 84)
 
 

In accordance with the law requiring the selection of rangers and supervisors, when practicable, from the States in which they are to be employed, regulate examinations for these positions are held as required in each State and Territory in which forest reserves are situated. These examinations are along practical lines, and include tests in the actual performance of field work. Only legal residents, between the ages of 21 and 40, are eligible for the ranger or supervisor examinations. Applicants are examined as to fitness for positions in the State or Territory of which they are legal residents. Only when examinations fail to secure thoroughly qualified men are vacancies filled by the examination of applicants from other States.

 The restriction as to residence is not imposed upon applicants for the forest assistant examination, for which the age limit is 20 to 40 years.

 Information as to the times and places at which examinations will be held and the steps necessary to secure admission may be obtained only from the United States Civil Service Commission, Washington, D.C.
 
 

Forest inspectors are appointed only from those who by their qualifications, training, and experience have gained great familiarity with reserve problems and unusual efficiency in the conduct of reserve business.

(p. 85)

 The inspector advises with all forest officers and has free access to all official books, reports, or other records. He may call upon any supervisor for all necessary assistance; but he has no authority to give orders to any supervisor or to any ranger, unless that ranger has been detailed by superior to assist the inspector.

 His duties are to inspect the reserves in his district, their condition, and the progress, condition, and execution of all work, and to report to the Forester all information necessary for the proper management of these reserves. He also assists the local officers, by suggestion and advice, in all technical and executive matters.
 
 

For the purpose of encouraging good men to enter the service and to do good work, as well as to utilize their experience, appointments to the position of forest supervisor are made by the promotion of competent forest rangers or forest assistants, when the latter be found in the State or Territories in which the vacancies exist. Should there be no thoroughly satisfactory resident forest rangers of forest assistants, examinations of other applicants are held.

 The qualifications for the position of supervisor include all those required of rangers, as hereafter outlined, with superior business and administrative ability. Applicants should not only be familiar with every detail of the work of the rangers and with the conditions of the forest region involve, but should be able to handle men, to deal with all classes of persons who do business with the forest-reserve management, and to conduct the transactions and correspondence of the office. Knowledge of technical forestry is desirable but not essential. Candidates for the position of supervisor are required to furnish the most convincing proof of their moral and business responsibility.

(p. 86)

 While certain general qualifications are insisted upon in every case, special fitness for employment in a specified region is always considered. In many heavily forested regions, knowledge of timber and lumbering is more important than familiarity with the live-stock business, while the opposite is true in several interior reserves where grazing problems are numerous, and little, if any, timber is sold.

 Supervisors must give their entire time to the service. They have full charge of their reserves, plan and direct all work, have entire disposition of rangers and other assistants, and are responsible for the efficiency of the local service. Under instructions from the Forester, supervisors deal with the public all business connected with the sale of timber, the control of grazing, the issuing of permits, and the application of other regulations for the use and occupancy of forest reserves. They keep the records and accounts, and conduct the correspondence and general office business of their reserves, and make reports to the Forester on all matters under their jurisdiction.

 Supervisors have authority to suspend or recommend the discharge of any subordinate employee, and also to recommend such changes in the field force as the good of the service may demand.

 Each supervisor is required to keep, at his own expense, one or more saddle horses, to be used under saddle or to vehicle, for his transportation in the reserve, and is allowed actual and necessary traveling expenses only when the urgency of the case requires some other means of transportation.

(p. 87)
 
 

The position of forest assistant requires technical qualifications of high order, and entails an examination which no man may reasonably expect to pass unless he has been thoroughly trained in scientific forestry, dendrology, and lumbering. Forest assistants may be assigned to any part of the United States, and must be competent to handle technical lines of work, such as the preparation of working plans and plating plans, the investigation of the silvical characteristics and the uses of commercial trees, the study of problems in wood preservation, and to conduct many other investigations requiring a trained forester.

 When assigned to a forest reserve, a forest assistant is placed directly under the supervisor, from whom he received his orders and to whom he reports. If he has occasion to correspond with the Forester, he does so through the supervisor. He acts as technical assistant to the supervisor in all matters connected with the mapping, estimating, and disposal of timber, or other technical work. In addition to these matters, in which his services should always be required, he may be detailed by the supervisor to any general administrative business.

 Forest assistants are required to own and keep horses when necessary.

 Supervisors having forest assistants will avail themselves fully and freely of the technical information thus placed at their disposal and are held responsible for so doing. They will assign to such assistants, as occasion requires, the authority over rangers required to enable them to carry out their work successfully.

(p. 88)
 
 

To be eligible as ranger of any grade the applicant must be, first of all, thoroughly sound and able-bodied, capable of enduring hardships and of performing sever labor under trying conditions. Invalids seeking light out-of-door employment need not apply. No one may expect to pass the examination who is not already able to take care of himself and his horse in regions remote from settlement and supplies. He must be able to build trail and cabins and to pack in provisions without assistance. He must know something of surveying, estimating, and scaling timber, lumbering, and the live-stock business. On some reserves the ranger must be specialist in one or more of these lines of work. Thorough familiarity with the region in which he seeks employment, including its geography and its forest and industrial conditions, is usually demanded, although lack of this may be supplied by experience in other similar regions.

 The examination of applicants is along the practical lines indicated above, and actual demonstration, by performance, is required. Experience, not book education, is sought, although ability to make simple maps and write intelligent reports upon ordinary reserve business is essential.

 Where boats, saddle horses, or pack horses are necessary in the performance of their duty, rangers are required to own and maintain them.

(p. 89)

 The entire time of rangers must be given to the service. Engagement in any other occupation or employment is not permitted Rangers execute the work of the forest reserves under the direction of the supervisor. Their duties include patrol to prevent fire and trespass, estimating, surveying, and marking timer, and the supervision of cuttings. They issue minor permits, build cabins and trails, enforce grazing restrictions, investigate claims, and arrest for violation of reserve laws.

 Forest rangers may act as assistants to the supervisors. They have authority over deputy and assistant rangers and forest guards. They may be given charge of the field work of any portion of a reserve to which the supervisor is unable to give adequate personal supervision. When the absence of the supervisor requires some on in charge of this office, this duty falls on the forest ranger; although if there are more than one, or if there is a forest assistant attached to the reserve, the supervisor may detail whichever of these he thinks best, unless otherwise instructed by the Forester.

 Deputy rangers have charge of definite districts, to which they are assigned by the supervisor. They supervise assistant rangers and forest guards stationed within their districts and may also be given temporary laborers when necessary.

 Assistant rangers are usually employed in patrol or special work, under the direct supervision of a deputy ranger, although where this is impracticable they may have full charge of their districts. They may be given temporary laborers when necessary. No ranger is authorized to hire assistance himself except in cases of fire.

(p. 90)

 Although initial appointment as ranger is usually to the lower grade, in cases of merit service there may be only for a short probationary period. Increase of pay above the maximum for a forest ranger can be secured only through promotion to the position of deputy forest supervisor or forest supervisor when a vacancy occurs. It is the policy to fill such vacancies by the promotion of forest rangers or forest assistants, when competent men can be found, rather than by appointment of men without forest-reserve experience, although otherwise well fitted.
 
 

In addition to the permanent classified force upon the reserves, forest guards receiving $60 or less a month are employed under the following circumstances:

 (a) When it is impossible to secure a permanent force of qualified ranger for a reserve because there is no list, or an insufficient list, of eligibles qualified by examination and certification by the Civil Service Commission.

 (b) When a reserve already has a permanent classified force, but required the services for not over six months of additional men to perform the ordinary patrol and protective work of rangers.

 Forest guards have the powers and functions of assistant forest rangers.

 Where an eligible list exists of men who have successfully passed the examination for rangers, but have not been appointed because of lack of vacancies in permanent positions, guards must if available be appointed from this list. Guards so appointed may be promoted to the position of ranger, should vacancies occur, at any time within one year from the date of their certification as eligible for the position.

(p. 91)

 Where no eligible list exists, forest guards may be appointed without examination and may serve until a list is established through examination. Application for the position should be made to the supervisor, who will require sobriety, industry, physical ability, and effectiveness, and will give preference to local residents of whose fitness he is satisfied. Guards so appointed may serve until there is a list of eligibles for the position of ranger. If they pass this examination, they may continue to serve as guards, or be appointed rangers; if not, their appointments will be terminated unless the eligible list is still insufficient to provide both rangers and guards.

 Forest guards are required to own and keep horses when necessary.

 In recommending the appointment of forest guards, supervisors will state the names of the men desired, the date at which they are to begin work, and the necessity for their services. They should fully inform all applicants of the conditions under which they will service. Guards must not begin work until the supervisor has been instructed that they may do so.

(p. 92)
 
 

If the best interests of a reserve require the temporary employment of men for work on forest fires, fire lines, roads, trails, cabin construction, and other work distinct from the ordinary patrol and protective duties of guards and rangers, such men may be employed by the supervisor at not over $60 a month (except in case of fire, when not to exceed $2.50 a day may be paid) and for a period of not over six months. These men are designated "laborers" and, not being appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture, are not in the Forest service, have not the power to arrest, and must not be given the full duties and authority of guards and rangers.

 Before employing such laborers supervisors must inform the Forester of their names, the dates at which they are to begin work, and the necessity of their services. They must not begin work until the supervisor has been instructed that they may do so by the Forester; except that in an emergency, such as fire, they may be employed without such instructions, if immediate report of such action is made. Instructions concerning the payment of laborers are given under "Supervisor's accounts."
 
 

Officers of the Forest Service are prohibited from entering, or becoming interested in, directly or indirectly, any of the public lands of the United States, with this exception: A forest officer may exercise his right under the homestead or desert land laws, if he intends to make the claim his actual and permanent home. By doing so he takes his own risk of being compelled to choose between the claim and his position, should his duties make it impossible for him to comply with the residence and improvement requirements.