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Wapiti Ranger Station, First in the Nation
Approximately 9 miles west of Wapiti on U.S. Highway 14

Before you stands the first forest supervisor’s headquarters in the country, authorized and built in 1903 with government funds. When the supervisor’s headquarters was moved to Cody, Wyoming in 1907, this building became a ranger station. Its unique role in the history of the conservation movement earned this station status on the National Register of Historic Places.

Originally a log structure, the Wapiti Ranger Station has expanded as the Forest Service mission evolved. It is still a hub of Forest Service activity today with men and women performing a variety of duties.

The life of the nation’s first forest ranger wasn’t easy. Early advertisements for these positions read: “A ranger must be able to take care of himself and his horses under very trying conditions, build trails and cabins, ride all day and night. Pack, shoot and fight fire without losing his head. All this requires a very vigorous constitution…the hardest kind of physical work from beginning to end.”
C.G. Poole, North Fork District Ranger - 1908

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