uld make easier the task of handling the forests and fighting
fires. The United States Forest Service, which has charge of
their management and protection, is one of the largest and most
efficient organizations of its kind in the world. It employs
expert foresters, scientists, rangers and clerks.

The business of running the forest is centred in eight district
offices located in different parts of the country with a general
headquarters at Washington, D.C. These districts are in charge of
district foresters and their assistants.

The district headquarters and the States that they look after
are:

No. 1. Northern District, Missoula, Montana.
(Montana, northeastern Washington,
northern Idaho, and northwestern South
Dakota.)

No. 2. Rocky Mountain District, Denver, Colorado.
(Colorado, Wyoming, the remainder
of South Dakota, Nebraska, northern
Michigan, and northern Minnesota.)

No. 3. Southwestern District, Albuquerque,
New Mexico. (Most of Arizona and New
Mexico.)

No. 4. Intermountain District, Ogden, Utah.
(Utah, southern Idaho, western Wyoming,
eastern and central Nevada, and
northwestern Arizona.)

No. 5. California District, San Francisco, California.
(California and southwestern Nevada.)

No. 6. North Pacific District, Portland, Oregon.
(Washington and Oregon.)

No. 7. Eastern District, Washington, D.C.
(Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Oklahoma,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia,
Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, New
Hampshire, Maine, and Porto Rico.)

No. 8. Alaska District, Juneau, Alaska.
(Alaska.)

Each of the National Forests is under the direct supervision of
a forest supervisor and is split up into from 5 to 10 or more
ranger districts. Each ranger district is in charge of a forest
ranger who has an area of from 100,000 to 200,000 acres in his
charge.

The National Forests are, for the most part, located in the
mountainous region of the West, with small scattered areas in the
Lake States, and the White Mountains, Southern Appalachians and
Ozarks of the Eastern and Southern States. Many of them are a
wilderness of dense timber. It is a huge task to protect these
forests against the ravages of fire. Fire fighting takes
precedenc