Historical Clippings Book - Nevada County Citizens (HC-07) (296 pages)

L. A. (Gus) Rickel Well Equipped to Garry on TNF Job By C. A. EVERHART _ This is the last of five articles On the forest supervisors of the xe n Tahoe National Forest. These articles cover a service span of 50 years and it. was felt by the writer} that. the 50: years of existence of the national forests could well be told through the working careers of the forest supervisors of the Tahoe National Forest. From a personal knowledge gained from more than 20 years of service, knowing nearly all of the “old timers” as well as the current group of sup. : ervisors, it seemed appropriate to tell the story of 50 years of the}: Forest Service in this way. “The preceding articles recounted ‘ the early days of organization and the laying of the basic foundations . ’ for the operation of the Tahoe For. < est; recounted the days of organization, custodianship and the period of intensive development to get ready to meet the demands that now confront every national forest—particularly those in the far west with its tremendous surge of population and industrial development. — j ese WL. A. (Gus) RICKEL This last article will tell of the present supervisor, L. A. (Gus) Rickel, and the looking into the future that he must do in order to keep the forest space with all phases of development of the United States. His job is not less than that of those who served heretofore. It is by far the greatest challenge and has the highest potential for.success, + Rickel is well equipped to face the: ‘challenge. He has the vigor and vision of youth, the ‘maturity of early middle age and a broad experience and training in conservation’ and basic land management. He holds a forestry degree from Purdue ‘University, having gradu-; ated in 1934. His.work experience is unique in that he was a leader in the -highly successful Prairie State Shelter Belt planting project, and was a forester for the wartime emergency rubber growing project, a project especially assigned to the Forest Service to produce rubber A. (Gus) RICKEL . Fifth and ar Sapenic or, [ahoe National Forest in REG guayule plant. In addition, he was a ‘technical forester . on the Nicolet National Forest in . ) ‘Wisconsin; ranger on the Los Pa. dres © National Forest; assistant supervisor, Shasta National Forest? and in July, 14, 1949, made . . supervisor of the Los Padres Na‘tional Forest. He was made super‘visor of the Tahoe National Forest in July, 1954. Tate The Job Today The job on the Tahoe Forest is not only that of implementation of . existing work plans prepared by previous supervisors, but in addition is to keep those plans, working tools and working facilities up to date to meet the ever increasing . < demands being made upon the resources of the Tahoe forest. He must be able to see what the day to day changes will add up to over a period of time and then adjust the plans, tools and facilities to ‘meet this impact to have the resources serve the “greatest number over the longest period of time.” He must never lose sight sof the fact that these resources are owned by all of the people of the United States and hence are to [ser serve Pall ‘of the people noe than pts be of temporary benefit of individuals or companies. But. what about the future — the next 25 to 50 years and the next 100. years? We can look back now -at 50 years of progress and it is startling ‘to see the changes that have taken place. It takes little imagination to visualize what is coming with atomic power here, électronics in its very rapid de. velopment, aerodynamics changing modes. of transportation, studies and experiments in interplanetary travel, development of plastics, etc. ' A Look Into the Future In progress today are study and vesearch projects which in the course of a very few years will lands, Scientific breeding of trees will produce, hybrids that: will grow faster, produce a_ better product and will be resistant to disease. The Institute of Forest Genetics at Placerville, Calif., has already developed such hybrids and they have been planted on the Tahoe Forest. have its effect on national forest . .

L. A. (Gus) Rickel Well Equipped to Garry on TNF Job By C. A. EVERHART _ This is the last of five articles On the forest supervisors of the xe n Tahoe National Forest. These articles cover a service span of 50 years and it. was felt by the writer} that. the 50: years of existence of the national forests could well be told through the working careers of the forest supervisors of the Tahoe National Forest. From a personal knowledge gained from more than 20 years of service, knowing nearly all of the “old timers” as well as the current group of sup. : ervisors, it seemed appropriate to tell the story of 50 years of the}: Forest Service in this way. “The preceding articles recounted ‘ the early days of organization and the laying of the basic foundations . ’ for the operation of the Tahoe For. < est; recounted the days of organization, custodianship and the period of intensive development to get ready to meet the demands that now confront every national forest—particularly those in the far west with its tremendous surge of population and industrial development. — j ese WL. A. (Gus) RICKEL This last article will tell of the present supervisor, L. A. (Gus) Rickel, and the looking into the future that he must do in order to keep the forest space with all phases of development of the United States. His job is not less than that of those who served heretofore. It is by far the greatest challenge and has the highest potential for.success, + Rickel is well equipped to face the: ‘challenge. He has the vigor and vision of youth, the ‘maturity of early middle age and a broad experience and training in conservation’ and basic land management. He holds a forestry degree from Purdue ‘University, having gradu-; ated in 1934. His.work experience is unique in that he was a leader in the -highly successful Prairie State Shelter Belt planting project, and was a forester for the wartime emergency rubber growing project, a project especially assigned to the Forest Service to produce rubber A. (Gus) RICKEL . Fifth and ar Sapenic or, [ahoe National Forest

in REG guayule plant. In addition, he was a ‘technical forester . on the Nicolet National Forest in . ) ‘Wisconsin; ranger on the Los Pa. dres © National Forest; assistant supervisor, Shasta National Forest? and in July, 14, 1949, made . . supervisor of the Los Padres Na‘tional Forest. He was made super‘visor of the Tahoe National Forest in July, 1954. Tate The Job Today The job on the Tahoe Forest is not only that of implementation of . existing work plans prepared by previous supervisors, but in addition is to keep those plans, working tools and working facilities up to date to meet the ever increasing . < demands being made upon the resources of the Tahoe forest. He must be able to see what the day to day changes will add up to over a period of time and then adjust the plans, tools and facilities to ‘meet this impact to have the resources serve the “greatest number over the longest period of time.” He must never lose sight sof the fact that these resources are owned by all of the people of the United States and hence are to [ser serve Pall ‘of the people noe than pts be of temporary benefit of individuals or companies. But. what about the future — the next 25 to 50 years and the next 100. years? We can look back now -at 50 years of progress and it is startling ‘to see the changes that have taken place. It takes little imagination to visualize what is coming with atomic power here, électronics in its very rapid de. velopment, aerodynamics changing modes. of transportation, studies and experiments in interplanetary travel, development of plastics, etc. ' A Look Into the Future In progress today are study and vesearch projects which in the course of a very few years will lands, Scientific breeding of trees will produce, hybrids that: will grow faster, produce a_ better product and will be resistant to disease. The Institute of Forest Genetics at Placerville, Calif., has already developed such hybrids and they have been planted on the Tahoe Forest. have its effect on national forest . .