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The Busy Season [1911] From time to time Leopold tried his hand at verse, especially early in his career when he was stimulated by fellow rhymesters in the fledgling Forest Service. The esprit and camaraderie of the service as well as its utilitarian emphasis are illustrated by this bit of doggerel that Leopold inserted unsigned into a mimeographed monthly staff bulletin that he initiated in 1911, when he transferred from the Apache to the Carson National Forest. It is the first of four poems from the Carson Pine Cone, 1911-1914, that John D. Guthrie, Leopold's first supervisor on the Apache-where this verse may have been written-attributed to Leopold when he reprinted them in his book The Forest Ranger and Other Verse. 40 There's many a crooked, rocky trail, That we'd like all straight and free, There's many a mile of forest aisle, Where a fire sign ought to be. There's many a pine tree on the hills, In sooth, they are tall and straight, But what we want to know is this,What will they estimate? There's many a cow-brute on the range, And her life is wild and free, But can she look at you and say, She's paid the grazing fee? All this and more,-it's up to usAnd say, boys, Can we do it? I have but just three words to say, And they are these: "TAKE TO IT." ...

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