When I first went to work on the Orleans Ranger District of the Six Rivers National Forest in the spring of 1971, I assisted with doing plantation surveys. This involved pacing a certain distance through old brushy clearcut units, where Douglas fir trees had been planted two to five years earlier. There were four of us on the crew, including a crew leader, who worked full-time in the siliviculture department At each plot we would take inventory of every plant in a radius of the plot center, including all planted trees that had survived. There was a data card produced for each plot showing all the hardwood species, their height in addition to any planted or natural conifer species. It was rigorous work walking through dense vegetation on steep terrain. There were a few units where we ran across hose lines used to irrigate marijuana hidden in some the flatter plantations. By summer three of us went to work doing timber sale preparation work and seasonal employees filled in to continue doing plantation surveys during the summer months.
At the end of the day after doing plantation surveys, all our data cards were turned into the assistant silviculturalist, by the name of Dick. His desk was always piled with these cards as he would spend his days going through all the data to determine which units would require replanting, spraying and/or both. I never remember Dick ever out in the woods as he seem to be buried with paper work all the time. He was noted during his lunch break to go over to one of the drinking establishments in the community and have a beer and also have a beer or two after work, before driving up river to his home near Somes Bar. I had the impression his job was driving him to drink. .A few years later he transferred to the Mad River District on the south end of the Six Rivers National Forest. It was known that the District Ranger at Mad River expected his employees to attend the local church where he was the pastor. Also, as I remember there was only a small store near the Mad River Ranger Station and no taverns. Wonder if Dick changed his ways and went to church regularly?
Had to look up where Mad River R.S. is. Looks like pretty isolated & steep terrain. However, only two miles away is the Mad River Burger Bar (w/ burgers, beer, wine & lotto). Looks like it's been there since the 1950s or 60s; don't blink you might miss it! Check it out on google maps.
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