To Forest Officers in Charge:
In the construction of trails on the forest reserve lands under your supervision you will be guided by the following points:
    1. For purposes of protection and patrol, (and wherever the lands are inaccessible without trails,) the main point is to make the necessary trails at once; make them good enough to get over quickly and easily, and then later on finish them up in first-class shape.  They should be made good enough for every-day practical use at once, and later on, as the funds allow, they can be made permanent, They should now be planned and built with the idea of furnishing a good means of communication between all important points, and the quickest possible transportation in case of fire.
    2. Every trail built should be carefully planned out as a part of the whole trail system of the reserve. A general system of trails for the whole reserve should first be decided upon, and those tails of greatest immediate importance should be constructed at once.
    3. The most important part of trail work is in the laying out.  Never begin to build a trail until the ground has been thoroughly gone over and the best route decided upon. It is an absolute waste of money to build a trial without a very definite idea of the best possible line to follow. Never entrust the laying out of a trail to a man who is not thoroughly familiar with the subject. Always use your best trail man for the laying out.
    4. Use your own judgment about the width of a trail. Where a trail is easy to make, and requires but little time and money, make it wide enough for all comfort and emergency.  On difficult and expensive ground make it just wide enough to serve practical purposes. "See that clean work is done with the ax and brush-hook. Never leave the trail in such shape that it is necessary for an animal to turn out for logs, snags, or brush, time after time, when a very little work would clear things out. The way in which trails are kept 'brushed out' is a pretty sure indication of whether the Rangers are asleep or awake.
    5. Do not allow a grade of over 20 percent on any part of a trail unless the expense of bringing it down to this grade is prohibitive. As a rule, the maximum grade should not go over 15 percent. In all eases get the best possible grade which can be built for the money allowed. Do not waste time and money on a long, roundabout line merely to get a nice, low, easy grade of 5 or 6 percent; on the other hand, never take short cuts up or down a steep slope when by a little lengthening out an easy grade could be made. In short, use common sense, and get the best possible grade under the conditions.  "6. Be careful to make good, wide turns, or 'switchbacks,' and always build them on a level when practicable. Construct them so that pack or saddle animals can make a sure and easy turn.
    7. In localities where the soil is loose and easily washed out, put in cross gutters or obstructions when the grade requires them, to prevent the water running down the trail for any considerable distance. As a general thing brush and earth, a log, or a board, placed obliquely across the trail, answer the purpose.  The number of gutters or obstructions will depend on the steepness of the trail and the amount of water to be fumed aside, Always put enough of them to guard fully against serious washouts and the consequent waste of work, and construct them as the trail is built, not afterwards.
    8. Most trails can be laid out and built without the help of instruments. Any experienced Ranger who knows a good trail from a bad one can tell by his eye just about what grade he is running. He knows, at least, the point where a good grade stops and a too-steep grade commences, and that is the main thing.
If conditions justify a more careful survey, use a common hand-level or pocket compass with level attachment.
    9. The money to be expended on a trail will depend, first, on the nature of the ground, and second, on the importance of the trail and the use it is to be put to.  It is not practicable to fix the average cost of trail work for the reserves as a whole.  Base your estimates, so far as possible, on the results of trails previously built, and let them cost just what you think they are worth, and no more. Do not put a lot of money into a trail which will be but little used. On the other hand, when a trail is to be one of the main routes of travel build it well. Do not waste time end money by letting a man or two do a little at it now and then. Put a crew in charge of a Ranger who knows his business, and who can get work out of his men, and finish the work up promptly, never send men out to do trail work without giving some one man full charge of the work.  Avoid blasting and rock work as much as possible.  When it has to be done, do it well and make it permanent. This also applies to breastwork construction.  Put money into bridges only when the stream can not be regularly forded.
    10. See that your Rangers are equipped with a full supply of mattocks, shovels, axes, picks, saws, crowbars, brushhooks, sledges, cant hooks, drills, files, and other necessary tools, and that those tools are kept in first-class shape. Provide, also, for a suitable distribution of tools at convenient paints throughout the reserve, so that they will: be immediately available for fire and trail work. If you need more tools or cabins to store them in, say so at once.
    11.  It is not the intention of this Office to give you detailed instructions about laying out and building trails. The practical part of it must be settled by the men on the ground.  You should make a special point to train up your Rangers in trail work under the practical supervision of a man who knows the business. Good work must be brought about almost entirely from practical experience. You will personally inspect and report upon all trail work in your reserve, and see that the general principles outlined above are carried out.

CABINS
    In making recommendations for the construction of cabins, provide first for suitable Rangers' headquarters and central and convenient stations for the storing of tools. Make your estimates on log cabins, unless conditions are such that construction by sawed timber is cheaper.  See that your reserve is well supplied with cabins and these cabins are of substantial construction and comfortable.
    Please instruct your Rangers to keep them thoroughly clean and in a neat condition. This applies also to the ground surrounding them.  Have rubbish buried or burned. The condition of cabins and their surroundings will be inspected and reported upon frequently. You can not insist that others shall keep their camps in decent order unless your own Rangers do so.

(Signed) Gifford Pinchot Forester