A History of the Salmon National Forest

This history of the Salmon National Forest is respectfully dedicated to retired forest supervisor, Mr. F. E. (Gene) Powers. Histories of some forests have been written by retired supervisors and in a very real sense, though he did not do the actual research and writing, Mr. Powers has "written" much of the history of the Salmon. Retired from the Forest Service in 1970, he spent the last twenty-six years of his professional career on the Salmon, first as assistant supervisor and for the last eleven years as supervisor. This period of time, over a third of the total time since the Salmon River Forest Reserve was first created in 1906, is something of a record for time spent with one forest by a professional forester. Certainly no one knows the Salmon better and no one has been more intimately concerned with its problems, or more fully dedicated to its proper management, than has Mr. Powers.

In a life career spent with the Forest Service Mr. Powers has been involved in almost all aspects of the development of a modern forest and in the twenty-six years spent on the Salmon he has had the interest as well as the opportunity to become acquainted with this forest to a degree that few people can ever attain in relation to any forest. Comparisons are difficult but it can be safely said that the Salmon is one of the most rugged forests in the south forty-eight states; circumstances that call for the leadership of a man of rugged and independent character with the integrity and devotion to his work that make it possible for him to serve under rugged conditions. These are qualities of the man who had the best interests of the Salmon National Forest as his primary concern for twenty-six years.

Seldom has there been in one person the combination of abilities that Mr. Powers brought to his work. From his earliest training and childhood experience he has developed the ability to appreciate and be at home in the most primitive of outdoor conditions. As a woodsman and horseman he has those talents one associates with the early day foresters who had to live much like the frontiersmen of their time. But combined with his knowledge of the out of doors has been a fine ability to understand and work with people; a basic diplomacy and the willingness to consider the various sides of a problem; talents that made him a first class administrator of a modern forest with its increasingly complex administrative problems.

The life span of F. E. Powers very nearly covers the life span of the U. S. Forest Service; his devotion to the principles of sound conservation for which the Forest Service was created marks him as a career forester of the calibre to which our public lands can be properly entrusted. His twenty-six years of experience on the Salmon Forest and his unlimited cooperation and help in the preparation of this history makes it most appropriate that it be dedicated to him in particular and to all fine career foresters in general.

DON IAN SMITH