Historic, archived document

Do not assume content reflects current
scientific knowledge, policies, or practices.

j
t
i
a]

CIRCULAR NO. 23.

United States Department of Agriculture,

BUREAU OF FORESTRY.

SUGGESTIONS TO PROSPECTIVE FOREST STUDENTS.
INTRODUCTION.

The Bureau of Forestry receives a large and increasing number of
requests for information upon matters treated in this circular. The
purpose of its publication is to supply this information fully and
promptly. Inquiries from those who think of taking up forestry,
which are not covered in this circular, will always be answered will-
ingly. It will be understood, however, that, although the Bureau
of Forestry stands ready so far as it can to assist and advise the
forest student, it can reasonably go no further than to explain the
situation and point out the means by which a man may prepare
himself for it. It can no more assume the responsibility of deciding
for the prospective forest student whether he will do well to take up
forestry than it can predict to what position he will attain as a forester.

POSITION OF STUDENT ASSISTANT.

The only position in this Bureau open to those whose training in
forestry is incomplete or has not yet begun is that of Student Assist-
ant. It has been created in order to afford young men who are
thinking seriously of making forestry their profession, or who have
already taken up its study, an opportunity to become familiar with
the methods of this Bureau in the field and in the office. It must
be clearly understood that work as a Student Assistant does not
constitute in itself a stepping-stone to higher positions in the Bureau
of Forestry but forms a part only of the training useful in fitting a
man for the profession of forestry.

Student Assistants are, as a rule, appointed for the field season
only. This varies from three to six months or more, according to
the locality and the demands of the work. A limited number are
retained after the field season closes, in order to assist in the office of
the Bureau in working up data obtained in the field. The eligibility

of a Student Assistant to be continued in the office during the winter
depends upon the quality of his field work and upon the seriousness
of his intention to take up forestry.

4

a Student Assistants, while in the field, receive $25 per month, with
_ the payment of their expenses for living and for local travel. They

2

are required to defray their traveling expenses to the field from their
homes. If they take up work in the office at the close of the field
season, the cost of the journey from the field to Washington is borne
by the Bureau. Those Student Assistants whose services are desired
in the office during the winter are assigned to duty as Assistant Forest
Experts, and are paid at the rate of $40 per month while working in
Washington, but are reduced to $25 per month when again assigned
to a field party.

An application blank for the position of Student Assistant is fur-
nished on request by the Forester, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
This, when filled in and returned by the applicant, is filed for con-
sideration when the appointment of Student Assistanis for the field
season is taken up. The fitness of the applicant for appointment is
judged from his answers to the questions upon the blank. The
two main conditions upon which his appointment depends are that
he has either definitely decided to make forestry his profession, or
is at least considering it seriously, and that in age, physical con-
dition, and general training he is well equipped for the duties of
Student Assistant and is fitted to profit by his work. Men, there-
fore, who have already begun the study of forestry, either at a forest
school or elsewhere, and who are in other respects well qualified,
stand the best chance of appointment. In the same way, college
graduates take precedence of undergraduates, and undergraduates
of those who have had school training only. Men entirely without —
college training are appointed to the position of Student Assistant
only when they are exceptionally well fitted for work in the woods.
The number of applications from students of forest schools and from
college men has, so far, generally exceeded the number of appoint-
ments to be made, and it is probable that the excess will grow stead-
ily larger. The likelihood, therefore, of the appointment of men
who are not or have not been thoroughly trained is small, since
the first claim to the position open goes by right to the men who
in general training are best prepared to take up the technical work
incident to a scientific profession.

The field work required of Student Assistants is severe, monoto-
nous, and often entails some hardship. Student Assistants in the
field usually live in camp and are required to keep lumbermen’s
hours. Their work consists chiefly in ‘‘valuation surveys,” or
measurements of the standing timber upon given areas, and in
‘‘stem analyses,” or measurements of contents and rate of growth
made upon felled trees.

Cheerful obedience to orders is required of all Student Assistants.
Laziness or discontent is fatal to camp discipline and to effective —
work. No Student Assistant is retained who proves physically unfit —
for his duties or who shows a desire to shirk them. Bodily sound- |

|

°
ro)

ness and endurance is absolutely essential for those who take up the

work of a Student Assistant. Work in the woods differs profoundly

from camp life as it is usually understood. A Student Assistant
must be prepared to combine severe mental work with severe bodily
labor under conditions which make each one peculiarly trying.

Those appointed to the position of Student Assistant in this
Bureau should realize fully in the beginning that they will receive
no formal instruction in forestry. They are not attending a summer
school, but are taking a salaried position, the duties of which they
will be rigidly required to perform. Student Assistants in the field
are placed under the supervision of trained foresters in the execution
of technical forest work. The head of the party is at all times
willing, in so far as it does not interfere with his own duties, to
explain matters to the men under his charge and to suggest and
further lines of individual study. He has, however, no time to
deliver lectures nor to give formal instruction of any kind. The
Student Assistant has in his daily work abundant opportunity to
learn; whether he makes the most of it rests with him.

POSITION OF FIELD ASSISTANT.

The position in this Bureau open to trained foresters is that of
Field Assistant. It carries a salary of from $720 to $1,000 a year
in the beginning, with the payment of all living and traveling
expenses incident to field work. Field Assistants generally spend
about six months of the year in the field; the other six months are
spent in the preparation of reports in Washington. The position
entails a severe technical examination under the U. S. Civil Service
Commission, which no man may reasonably expect to pass unless he
has been thoroughly trained in forestry.

PREPARATION FOR FORESTRY.

The preparation for forestry as a profession may best begin with
a college or university course, in which the student should acquire
some knowlege of the auxiliary subjects necessary in forestry. Of
these, the more important are geology, physical geography, min-
eralogy, chemistry, botany, in particular that branch which deals
with the anatomy, physiology, and life history of plants, and pure
and applied mathematics, including a practical understanding of the
principles of surveying. The student who, in his college course,
can include physics, meteorology, and political economy will be the
better equipped to take up his technical forest studies.

Graduation at a college or university should be followed by a full
course at a school of instruction in professional forestry, of which
there are now three in this country. These are the New York State
College of Forestry, which offers an under-graduate course of four

4

years leading to the degree of Forest Engineer; the Yale Forest
School, with a two-years’ course, open to college graduates, leading
to the degree of Master of Forestry; and the Biltmore Forest School,
in which the course covers one year and does not lead to a degree.
Full information as to the course of training at these schools, the
requirements for entrance, and the cost of attendance may be
obtained upon application to Dr. B. E. Fernow, Director, New York
State College of Forestry, Ithaca, New York; Prof: Henry S.
Graves, Director, Yale Forest School, New Haven, Connecticut;
and Dr. C. A. Schenck, Biltmore, North Carolina.

Vacations, so far as possible, should be spent in the woods. The
student should take advantage of every opportunity to study forest
conditions and to acquaint himself with technical forest methods in
field work. He should also see all he can of lumbering, which, on
its executive side, is closer to forestry than to any other calling. A
good knowledge of the lumberman’s methods is an essential part of
a forester’s education.

Whenever possible the forest student should supplement his
systematic studies in this country by six months to a year spent in
studying the effects of forestry upon the forest in Kurope. Although
European forest methods can seldom be adopted without modifica-
tion in this country, they have been rich in suggestion in the appli-
cation of practical forestry to American forests. The American
forest student who puts aside a chance to see forestry in Europe ©
makes the same mistake that a medical student would be guilty of
who ignored an opportunity to practice in the best hospitals abroad.

College or university training, followed by a full course at a forest
school and supplemented by work in the woods in this country and
in Kurope, may not be possible for every student of forestry. A
thorough preparation for forestry as a profession should, however,
include these lines of work. How many of them the student may
omit and still retain a fair chance of success in his profession can
not be laid down altogether within hard and fast lines, although
study at a forest school has become essential. A great deal must
depend upon a man’s zeal and industry and upon his natural fitness
for, forest work. On the other hand, the man who is considering
forestry as a profession will do well to remember that the only sound
basis for success in forestry, as in any other scientific profession, is a _
thorough and systematic preparation; that no matter how high his |
natural abilities may be, the insufficiently trained forester cannot
hope to compete with those who have enjoyed full advantages in |
their preparation; and that in this country, perhaps more than in |
any other, forest problems present difficulties which require above |
all a thorough understanding of his work in the man who undertakes |
to deal with them. |

Or

THE OPENING FOR FORESTERS.

The best management of the national forest reserves will require
the services of many trained men. The Bureau of Forestry, in the
preparation of working plans for private, State, and Federal forest
lands, in forest investigations, and in tree planting, is at present
unable to find a sufficient number of suitably prepared foresters to
supply its needs. The lack of foresters to care for the forest interests
of several States is already making itself strongly felt. An increas-
ing number of foresters will be required by private forest owners, as
the great holders of timber lands come to realize more generally that
conservative lumbering pays better than the methods now employed.
The Forestry Bureau in the Philippines offers what is in some ways
an unrivalled opportunity to trained men.

As regards compensation, forestry offers the well-prepared man a
fair living. It is naturally impossible to foretell what will be the
pay of foresters in this country. It is reasonably certain, however,
that their salaries will never be large. Trained foresters in the
employ of the Bureau of Forestry now receive from $720 to $3,000
a year.

GIFFORD PINCHOT,
Forester.
Approved :
JAMES WILSON,
Secretary.

WASHINGTON, D. C., January 15, 1902.

S