If you love nature and
the outdoors, you probably want to believe that the original intent of the U.S.
Forest Service when it was formed in the early 1900s was to protect our forests
from annihilation by rampant logging. However, that was far from being the case.
In the 1870s, forest reserves, which was what our national forests were called then,
trees were considered resources that needed monitoring in order to extend the
harvest, like one would grow a crop of tomatoes. The Federal Government never thought
about how someday these forests would be our Nation’s few remaining places where
we could connect with nature without worrying about a subdivision springing
forth. The Government was more concerned that if they didn’t manage tree
harvesting, they would lose revenue. Note the goal to “manage” harvesting. For
revenue. The Forest Service is the only government agency that generates
revenue by selling off natural resources, including lumber, minerals, and
grazing permits for cattle. Where did preservation come in? It didn’t.
However, I could go on
and on about that, but instead I want to say that I didn’t find it a surprise to
read about how severe drought in the early 1900s led to massive wildfires threatening
to wipe out all of the West’s “stored lumber,” sending the Forest Service into
a panic. “Put out every single fire!” they vowed. Fire was an enemy to be conquered.
Total suppression of every single solitary blaze became their goal.
The first firefighters
were not permanent or even full time employees. In fact, firefighters weren’t
hired until there was a fire. Rather than keep fire crews on call during fire
season (expensive for the under-funded agency), officials opted to build fire
lookout towers in strategic locations in order to spot fires before they became
a big problem. But now to find men who wanted to sit in a “box” on stilts for
days on end, looking for smoke.
This is where it gets
interesting. Men didn’t want to do this, but the Forest Service didn’t have an
alternative. They didn’t employ one single woman. Not even in the office.
The first woman to
break into the all-male agency was Hallie M. Daggett in 1913. She snagged one
of those “undesirable” fire lookout jobs on the Klamath National Forest. And
what a gal! When the men on her district snickered and laughed behind her back,
saying she’d be too scared to last up there in the lonely tower and she’d be on
the phone the first night, begging to go home—it served them right when the
phone didn’t ring with a call from her—then, or the entire 14 years she’d held
the position. Seems to me she was braver than they were by putting up with snide
comments and hanging onto the challenging position for years—the one men didn’t
want to be bothered with.
There is only one
other early accounting, about 1914, of a woman holding a Forest Service job.
However, her job description is vague, only saying that Helen McCormick patrolled
the Willamette National Forest on horseback, carrying emergency camping gear in
case she had to spend a night. This the only such mention of women in the
Forest Service, outside of fire lookout positions, for many years. It’s not
that women didn’t have a presence—they did—but only those whose husbands worked
for the agency, and only when there were fires that required additional help. Women
were expected to support their man, many volunteering their time organizing
fire crews and supplies, cooking meals, acting as radio operator, and managing
telephone communications. And if that wasn’t enough, they stepped in to be managers
of entire districts while the men fought fire. If the women balked at working
for free, Forest Service officials were quick to label them as unloyal, not
only to their husbands, but to the agency. (Oh, give me a break!)
However, at least one
man recognized that these women outdid the men they filled in for—including
their husbands, or so said one district ranger. I’ll bet he treated his wife quite
well.
Think about this: only
one woman was hired between 1913 and
1957. Joanne G. McElfresh became the first woman Forester for the agency. But
women in fire suppression other than fire lookouts? Another nineteen years
would pass until the agency would allow women on fire crews. Yup, you read that
right. Nineteen years.
When I tried to
research the exact year the Forest Service began hiring women on fire crews, I
couldn’t find much. I did land on one accounting that 1975 was the magical
year, which made sense, as my first year with the agency was 1976, and I experienced
everything I read about women entering this field then. Men had one heck of a time
accepting, much less knowing how to deal with, women working by their side.
That was exactly what I’d found out, the hard way.
My decision to accept
a firefighting position had nothing to do with me fulfilling a lifelong dream
of being a firefighter. It also had nothing to do with me out to prove that I
could do a man’s job. However, that’s what I usually ended up doing. What not only
saddens me, but makes me angry, is that it is still happening to women on fire crews
to this day.
What do you think is the
reason? Why do you think men still treat women the same way they did 40 years ago?
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
