GOING PAPERLESS

Today I opened up the envelope containing my insurance premium that arrived in the mail last week and is due in a few days.   I was going to write a check and mail it in the envelope provided along with the payment stub.   Well, there was no return envelope or payment stub, just a statement with instructions on how to pay online or by phone.   I tried both with no success.   Online it would not accept my credit card and by phone the automated voice wanted me to repeat everything until I got frustrated and hung up.   In the end I wrote a check and mailed to my insurance agent with a note expressing my frustrations and asking them to figure it out.   

MY COMPUTER

My computer system, Windows 10, I believe, is 8 or 9 years old and probably operating on borrowed time.    I'm not sure how long these systems last and definitely not a computer wizard.   If it was not for Seth, my son-in-law it probably would not be operating at all.   There seems to be more and more mornings when it loses connection with the internet.  Not knowing the correct procedure to reconnect, I pull the plug to restart it and usually it reconnects to the world through the Douglas Fast Net (DFN) wire connecting me to the world.    It must have been 1997, when I lived in Eugene my daughter set up our first computer on the Windows 95 system with a dial up internet connection over the phone line.    Sometimes you could prepare dinner waiting for it to connect.   The picture of my keyboard says a lot about how much use this computer has had over the years.  Sure glad I paid attention in my high school typing class learning the keyboard.  

So, if you don't see new postings on this blog you can guess this system went south and maybe the writer with it.  

CUT-OFF from the WORLD

We were connected to the world by one little black wire that ran under the house from a big gray box outside to the little white box by the computer.  Two days ago there was no internet connection and the little white box did not show a green light where it says FIBER.    I called the technical support person on duty at Douglas Fast Net for advice.   He talked me through the process to trouble shoot the problem and we came to the same conclusion that the little black wire under the house had been damaged by critters.   This afternoon a technician came out and we rewired from the outside big gray box to the little white box inside by running new wire along the outside molding.  After the old wire under the house was pulled out we could see all the places where the critters had chewed the wire.   

Before the internet how did we ever survive with no email, no way to pay bills online, to check our bank account, to check the weather forecast, get the latest news and search for all those things we want to know about?    How did we survive it all with no connection to the world?

Slide Rule

How many remember the slide rule?   There were no hand-held calculators when I was in college (1968-70).   We had to know how to use the slide rule for field work, such as mapping and surveying, so we had a night class for one hour a week for a semester in using a slide rule.  This was after most of us had dinner and a few beers and our attention span was limited.

Did end up getting a C grade in the class and actually remember some of the functions for multiplication, division, square root, etc.   Our teacher knew our limitations at this time of night and allowed us to compare notes, especially during a quiz.   He recognized it was the only way some us were going to make it through the class.

The slide rule is better known as a mechanical analog computer.    

Vehicle Maintenance and Repair

 Remember the days when you could change the oil, adjust the carburetor or replace the spark plugs in less than an hour on your vehicle back in the 1960's and 70's?   There was enough space around the engine that you could actually see the ground after opening the hood.   Changing the oil filter was easy without getting under the vehicle or standing on your head under the hood trying to get to it buried in some difficult place.  

Nowadays just looking under the hood is a nightmare with all the electrical systems, computers, sensors and other components that obstruct the view of the engine itself.   There is a warning light for everything, including the tires.   It becomes necessary to make an appointment at the dealership or a first class shop to do all the maintenance and repairs where labor costs are $80+ per hour.

I think back on the used 1963 Ford pickup I paid $800 for after getting out of the Army in 1968.  It had a six cylinder engine and was easy to maintain and I even rebuilt the engine without too much profanity.   The best thing about that vehicle was I could use a pocket knife or screwdriver as a key to start it.    Sure wish I had it now as some days I don't know where my keys are anymore.

Cheers!

Cabin Fever

 As of this morning, my Gmail account has 4,403 messages in the inbox.  The first message this morning is an ad to regrow thicker, longer, stronger, healthier hair.   No doubt I could probably use some of that.   Most of the emails deal with health issues, the latest news, writing classes, ads from publishers, and much political stuff, all wanting money in the end.   After checking all the items for deletion during my morning inventory much of it and more is replaced by the next day.   During these uncertain times, I really appreciate the stories many of you have shared.  As winter sets in along with the increasing spread of the virus cabin fever will be our next great challenge.    Nature is the best place to retreat from all the worldly madness and to share a few stories sure helps.

Keep writing!

Paper Work

 A little humor in this story which some of you retired FS and BLM folks might understand.  If you want to read a good book with all kinds of stories of being a young forester, staff assistant and District Ranger I recommend Forest Trails and Tales by Joel Frandsen, who worked in four different states on six National Forests.

Hopefully one day I complete my memoirs of the Sixes National Forest I worked on from 1969-95.  Preface attached.  

Preface

                                  MY CAREER WITH THE FOREST SERVICE

                     A Ground View of the Forest Service from Days Gone By

 

This is a collection of memoirs from my career with the Forest Service starting in 1969 until 1995, after working on six National Forests, including the Modoc, Stanislaus, Six Rivers, Plumas, Siskiyou and Umpqua.     It started out with a few short stories about different events then grew into expanded stories of each Ranger District that I worked on with some separate events thrown in.  It probably could be revised again, including more details on outstanding issues, co-workers, forest contractors and more, but probably would never get completed.  

This is a story of a Forest Service that in many ways no longer exists.   Just like the early days when a forest ranger traveled on horseback covering hundreds of square miles doing trail work, looking for fires, or packing supplies to some remote camp, the era of the Forest Service I was part of is becoming part of history also.   The days when we drove green trucks on dusty forest roads to survey a new logging road, cruise or inspect a timber sale have almost disappeared.   Today some of these roads can longer be found, most Forest Service trucks are white, there are fewer of them, and if you come across a dusty logging road you might be on private timber lands.   Timber management, or as we called it, “get the cut out” was the primary focus in the last half of the last century on many National Forests of the west, especially the Pacific Northwest.  Ecosystem management is the name of the game today and most foresters and engineers have been replaced with biologists specializing in specific fields of science.   There are still Forest Service fire crews and field technicians doing an assortment of jobs, including recreation, wildlife habitat or restoration projects, but very little of that work deals with timber removal, except for some thinning or salvage sales.   If you see a logging truck today on a National Forest road it might be a shock, but compared to the log traffic of the last half of the last century it is hardly a fraction of what it used to be.   The spotted owl has received much blame for the decline of timber cutting on National Forests of the west.   In fact it was getting harder and harder to find the timber to cut or come up with a five to ten year timber sale plan on many Ranger Districts to keep up or maintain what was called the “Allowable Annual Cut” or the Allowable Sale Quantity (ASQ).   For funding purposes timber harvest plans were needed to appease Congress in hopes of getting the funds to keep people employed and the wheels moving to produce timber sales.  

In addition, public sentiment was against the status quo, especially the practice of clearcutting on National Forests.   With the declining timber harvest under the Northwest Forest Plan it was hard to justify and get Congress to finance the many foresters, road engineers and technicians associated with the timber management program of yesterday.  By the mid 1990’s the Forest Service was offering buy-outs and early retirements in order to downsize this personnel.   I was one that took a buy-out in March of 1995, mostly to save my sanity and do something else.

The focus of my writings is centered on the different communities, local issues, housing situations and job activities that I was involved with during my years working as a forestry technician.  At times it might get too technical with terminology and forestry practices that some might not understand.   Except for using a few first names of key individuals I was involved with, the names of most co-workers and supervisors are not mentioned, and of course no last names.    We had a job to perform, sometimes under difficult circumstances, adverse weather conditions and at times there was internal conflict about the best ways to achieve management goals, which led to heated discussions.   In my later years there was always a meeting to try to resolve the issue of the day, which usually led to another meeting.   In the early years I don’t remember any meetings, except an occasional safety or project assignment meeting before leaving the station in the morning.  

On a positive side there was a sense of family with co-workers.  It was hard not to be emotionally connected and share personal problems since much time was spent together traveling in a crew truck, doing field work, at social gatherings, or many days on a fire line and confined to a fire camp with each other.    For better or worse there were relationships with timber purchasers, road builders, loggers and other contractors while dealing with the timber sale contract.   Most of these people wanted to do a good job, but there was always some that wanted to cut corners.  In short it was the highest bidder that got the timber and the lowest bidder that got the job of removing that timber.  As one logging supervisor told me once, “If you were not here we would tear this place down”.   That justified my existence. 

With all the planning efforts, including watershed analysis, environmental assessments, and logging feasibility reports, there was always something that fell through the cracks, mistakes were made and finger pointing was common.  A combination of unrealistic deadlines, workloads and politics was the culprit of many management problems in my opinion.   In many ways there were too many cooks in the kitchen at times without adequate supervision and we were always at the mercy of the political climate, which was usually under the influence of the timber industry that always wanted more timber.   

Today many problems still exist with management of our National Forests.  Rural communities have suffered economic hardships from the decline of timber harvesting, many forest roads are not adequately maintained, and the threat of wildfires has increased due to dense timber stands in need of thinning and climate change.   There is insufficient personnel to perform the many jobs that need to be done these days.   In order to save money some Forests have combined under one Supervisor's office and some District Rangers oversee two or even three Districts.  Today there is too few employees to maintain all the National Forest infrastructure, including roads, trails, campgrounds and other improvements.   The greatest challenge of today is finding the right balance between resource management activities and maintaining an ecosystem that will provide forest products, clean air, clean water, wildlife habitat and recreation opportunities for a growing population.   

PAPER WORK

 

Working for the Forest Service had its fair share of paper work to keep up with.   In the early days working in the field doing silviculture and timber sale preparation work we had plantation survey reports, timber stand analysis reports, timber cruise data cards and harvest unit traverse maps to turn in.   We did not have individual decks, but there was a long wall mounted table where the field crew had their own inboxes.  Here we received memos and directives from the upper echelon to read, initial and pass on.   The most important piece of paper was our bi-weekly time sheet to turn in every other week in order to get paid.  

When I went to work in timber sale administration I had my first deck and the paper work increased.    There were the daily timber sale inspection reports, fire inspection reports, monthly financial reports, audit follow-up reports and all the management directives to keep up with.   Whenever it was necessary to write letters to a timber purchaser I was the one to draft it up for the District Ranger to sign as he was the Forest Service representative for the contract.   In later years this authority was delegated to the District Timber Management staff assistant or lead administrator better known as the Forest Service Representative or FSR. 

The timber sale inspection report was utilized on a daily basis for each timber sale visited.  There were four copies to this report.   The front page went to the office file folder for that contract, one went to the timber sale purchaser, one went to the logging supervisor on the job and one went to the Forest Supervisor’s office.    The timber sale inspection report documented any mutual agreements, acceptance of work, minor contract change agreements and notices of non-compliance with the contract.   The copy of this report that was sent to the Forest Supervisor’s office went to the timber staff assistant in charge of contract administration.   In most cases we never heard back on our reports and while working in Gold Beach I thought I would see if anybody was reading them.    I filled out a fictitious report describing a breach of contract of the worst kind, tractor logging in a stream.   A few days later the timber staff assistant called me and asked what the hell is going on.   I replied that I was just checking to see if he was reading my reports. 

 

Sometime in the 1980’s the Forest Service went to computers and we were assigned an electronic inbox to receive emails of all kinds dealing with management letters, documents and directives from the Chief of the Forest Service, the Regional Forester down to the Forest Supervisor.    Over time more and more stuff accumulated in this electronic inbox and it could take an hour a day to go through it all.  Sometimes a report requiring some kind of reply was overlooked and there would be a phone call from somebody in management wanting to know if I had read whatever or how I was going to resolve some contractual issue.   The delete button got a lot of use. 

While working on the Cottage Grove Ranger District I went out to the fire warehouse one day to replenish my supply of timber sale inspection report forms from the storage room where all kinds of forms were stored.   After looking at all the different forms I came across one called the Negative Report.   This report actually had instructions that said, “Use this Report if you have nothing to Report.”   It was an obsolete form, but I sure had a good time with it.  

Communications

 How many of you remember picking up the phone and hearing the operator ask, “number please?”   Usually this was on a party line and sometimes you could hear the neighbor talking and had to wait for them to hang up before getting your call connected.   If the neighbor tied up the line too long sometimes mom had to interrupt and tell Mabelle down the road to stop hogging the line with her gossiping.    By the late 1950’s they came out with the rotary dial phones on private lines and there was no more dealing with the neighbors.  

My first summer job with the Forest Service in 1969 was at the Hilton Spike Camp Guard Station on the Modoc National Forest.    One of our first duties was maintaining the phone line between the guard station and Manzanita Lookout.  It took a few days to clear the fallen branches and trees from the line and splice it where it had been broken.   This line connected two phones that had to be cranked in order to make it ring at the other end.   The lady on the lookout used it whenever she needed us to bring her a load of water or haul her garbage off.   It was used once to report a lightning fire to us since it was after office hours and she was unable to call the dispatcher from her two-way radio.   The problem with this system was not hearing it ring when nobody was near the phone.  The two-way radio system was more reliable, but everybody could hear you all over the Forest depending on your location.    At nights the lookouts could talk to each other over the radio on a social level.  This reminds me of a story a lookout on Hammerhorn Mountain told us when a friend and I spent a night there in 1962 while backpacking through the Yolla Bolly Wilderness on the Mendocino National Forest.   He told us a recently young married couple were the lookouts on a peak to the south of his location, I think called Black Butte.   He said they had left the base set radio transmitter lever on and during the night many of the other Forest lookouts could hear the heated commotion after the lights went out.  

Sometime in the 1990’s cell phones came into use.   Through my credit union in Springfield I got my first analog cell phone in 1997 for free from Verizon with a monthly cost of $20.   When everything went digital they informed my phone had to be replaced and they sent me a Motorola phone, again for free and still $20 a month.   I believe this was in 1999, not sure, but I still have this phone with the original battery.  Took a while to learn how to use it and never fully understood all the functions available on it.    A few years ago I took the phone into the Verizon shop in Roseburg where the people there had never seen one this old.    They checked it out and got it programed for caller ID, call waiting and showed me it could receive and send text messages.   They tried to sell me a new smart phone where my monthly bill would be increased to pay for it over time.   I declined in fear of never learning all its functions and besides my old Motorola could do all the basic things I needed.    When we had our land line phone disconnected four or five years ago we got a second cell phone for Celia.  It is the flip type phone and more complicated to use than my phone.    Our monthly rate for the two phones is $54 with a limit of 700 hours.   Our old land line phone was about the same amount per month and did not include long distant calls.    Now we never leave home without our cell phones.  

How did we ever survive in our younger days riding our bikes down country roads, getting flat tires, crashing into the ditch and getting bruised knees with no way to call mom?    

Looking Back for Tomorrow

 Except for an occasional visit with neighbors or a trip to the store, this computer has become our primary connection to the outside world where we can share our thoughts and experiences.   Attached is a short essay we can all relate to and ponder.

Map collecting has been a hobby of mine ever since my school days.   Remember those state maps you could get at the gas station back in the 1950’s and 60’s for free?   I still have some, plus maps from National Geographic, National Forests, Parks and my share of atlases.    Now we have Google Maps and Google Earth to find all those places we want to explore.    With no place to go these days I  can travel back in time by sitting and looking at the computer screen in search of  where we traveled, backpacked and worked over the years.    Some of those places are hard to find, especially the many forest roads I have traveled and trails I have hiked.   Some of those roads are no longer maintained, the clear cut units we used as landmarks are now second growth forests, some are over 40 years old and many places, including wildness areas, have been burned.   The natural topography is still there, the streams, the ridges and the mountain peaks, but not the way we remember them due to fires that have altered the landscape.   

In midst of a world-wide pandemic, a changing climate, political chaos and an unknown economic future we don’t know what is down the road of life.    There are no maps charting the future course.   History can be our greatest teacher as we look back in time and learn from our mistakes.    Humanity has survived two world wars, the Spanish flu of 1918-19 and the Great Depression of the last century.    The great question is did humanity make the right choices after all those events?  Were they good only in the short-term and harmful in the long-term?  

Hopefully we all survive this crisis and become more understanding of each other, our environment, and develop an economy that is more sustainable for future generations.    The natural world is constantly changing and we better adjust no matter how much we think we can change Mother Nature.    We have tried for generations with little success, causing more harm than good.  Who knows what the future has in store for mankind?   One thing for sure, I don’t think we will see those free maps at the gas station ever again.