The Forest Reserve Act of 1891 was the catalyst for the creation of the Forest Service. The act gave the U.S. president the power to establish forest reserves on public domain lands. President Theodore Roosevelt along with conservation and science organizations and forestry professionals managed to protect public forest lands for future generations.
Historically, almost all early U.S. Forest Service rangers were graduates of Yale University, which founded the first American forestry school in 1901. The early rangers were either Yale-trained engineers or foresters and would be dispatched to remote areas to "measure the forest" or, more precisely, determine the size of a forested area and estimate the size of its wildlife population. Over the ensuing years, the Forest Service has become more refined; however, it remains an agency that develops its own leadership. There is no prescribed training path for a Forest Service ranger to become a district ranger.
Many forest rangers begin as summer interns while in college or even as volunteers. The Forest Service recommends that high school students interested in becoming a ranger select a college or university with a program in forestry or forest management, natural resources, botany or a related field. By interning with the Forest Service during summers you can gain valuable experience. Often, interns showing particular promise can earn a scholarship.
According to a U.S. Forest Service spokesman, Colorado State University in Fort Collins turns out as many future forest rangers as any school in the country. With the Colorado State Forest Service headquartered on the CSU campus and the Warner College of Natural Resources that includes departments in Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, Geosciences and Forest, Rangeland and Watershed Stewardship as well as Human Dimension of Natural Resources, students have options that fit nicely with U.S. Forest Service needs.
Once employed by the U.S. Forest Service as a ranger, you can move up the organization through hard work and demonstrated leadership. As already stated, the U.S. Forest Service does not have a prescribed program to train district rangers, but rather, they nurture rangers who show interest in advancing. Private companies are contracted by the Forest Service to offer leadership courses for interested rangers, but it is not a formalized program. A U.S. Forest Service spokesman said that a dozen moves during a career is not unusual for someone who wants to rise in the ranks to district ranger or higher.