Forest Service Badges and Patches

FOREST SERVICE BADGE AND PATCHES--ORIGIN
Gerald W. Williams, Ph.D., USDA Forest Service, Washington, DC

Adapted September 12, 2003 from Frank Harmon's 1980 Article
"What Should Foresters Wear?" in the Journal of Forest History
and other sources.

Gifford Pinchot, as chief of the Bureau of Forestry, began thinking about the need for a unique badge of authority for his agency employees even before the forest reserves were transferred from the Department of the Interior to Department of Agriculture. When the shift finally took place early in 1905, and the bureau was designated as the Forest Service in the summer of the same year, Pinchot set about at once to create a new official badge for the [then called] forest rangers (the earlier General Land Office used a nickel-plated, round badge).

The Washington office staff agreed that the vast responsibilities of the new Forest Service required such a symbol (badge) to help assure public recognition of the agency and respect for its officers and their authority, both in Washington and in the field. A reliable symbol was especially needed for those men in the field who were charged with applying and enforcing Federal laws and regulations, many of them new, in the face of an often suspicious and hostile local populace.

For creation of the badge, Pinchot announced a contest among Washington office employees. A highly varied collection of tree-related designs resulted, including scrolls, leaves, and maple seeds. The judges appreciated their artistic merits but were dissatisfied because none included generally recognized symbols of authority.

Edward T. Allen one of the judges, strongly believed that a conventional shield was the best authority symbol. As it turned out, he and an associate, William C. Hodge, Jr. (who, like Allen, worked both in the Washington office and in California between 1904 and 1906), came up with the design that became the official badge. The two men were together in the spring of 1905, perhaps in Allen's office or at a railroad depot in Missoula, Montana (the meeting place is unclear).

Allen, who was attracted by the type of shield used by the Union Pacific Railroad, began tracing an outline of the shield (from a Union Pacific timetable) on a sheet of paper. He inserted the large letters U and S halfway from the top to the bottom of the shield, leaving a space between them. Hodge, looking on, was inspired to sketch a fir tree on a sheet of "roll-your-own" cigarette paper he took from his pocket. He then laid this between the U and S. The two men then quickly wrote "FOREST SERVICE" across the top and "DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE" across the bottom. The placement of the two names was probably dictated by available spaces. Whether this design had any influence on the soon-to-develop and still widely used but unofficial expression "U.S. Forest Service" is debatable. In any case, Pinchot and his assistant, Overton Price, were pleased with the design and called off a planned second contest. Back to Top

Forest Service Bronze Badges

The large bronze badge--about 2 1/4 inches in diameter, slightly convex with raised letters and tree--was issued to all field officers by July 1, 1905. Less than two years later, Pinchot issued an order on the wearing of the badge: "Here-after the badge will be worn only by officers of the Washington Office when on inspection or administrative duty on the National Forests, by Inspectors, and by Supervisors, Rangers, and Guards and other officers assigned to administrative duty under the Supervisors." The present bronze badge, first issued in 1915, is smaller (1 5/8") than the original.

Badges for fire guards were nickel-plated bronze with the words "FOREST GUARD" across the top, "U.S." on the left of the tree, "F.S." on the right, and "DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE" on the bottom. Another forest guard badge type was made with "FOREST GUARD" across the top, "U.S." left of the tree, "D.A." on the right, and "FOREST SERVICE" at the bottom. Neither of these Forest Guard badges had a raised edge around the border of the badge. The words were stamped into the surface and the tree was highly symmetrical. Another badge was issued, probably to forest guards or lookouts, that was the same as the regular Forest Service bronze badge, only nickel-plated. Finally, a flat bronze badge has been recently issued. Beginning around 1922, a smaller 7/8" bronze badge was authorized for uniform wear. This badge was the same as the larger badge, except smaller. It was used on dress uniforms until around 1972. With the women’s uniforms designed in the 1960s, the smaller badge was often issued and worn by the women employees on jackets and vests. This smaller badge was sometimes, incorrectly, referred to as the “women’s badge.”

Other than three size variations and three forest guard variations, there were two other minor image changes: One made in 1920 when the large letters U and S were lengthened, but the tree remained the same, then the other change made in 1938 when Chief F.A. Silcox approved a revision of the standard Forest Service shield such that the tree image in the middle became longer/taller than the original 1905 version. Also, the tree and root shapes on the shield changed slightly, with the tree becoming more symmetrical and roots becoming slightly shorter.

Since the late 1930s, there have been no additional changes to the image on the official badge. These changes were evident on both the badges and Forest Service shields everywhere.

Forest Service badges were attached to the official uniforms in three different ways. The most common type is a single pin-back style, vertical pin (called a “finding”) with one side attached by solder to the back of the badge. Another variation, found thus far on only one badge worn by Forest Service Chief Richard McArdle, has two vertical pin-back clasps that are soldered on the back of the badge. Also, there is an uncommon attachment with two vertical posts soldered on the back of the badge which attach to a uniform with pinch clips. The smaller 1-inch badge has three methods of attachment–pin-back style, pinch clip, and military-style post and screw. The Forest Service Manual (FSM) specifies the uses and wearing of the badge in FSM 6159.49 a and b. Back to Top

Law Enforcement Badge

Forest Service law enforcement, however, has a different official badge. This unusual shield stylistically resembles the regular FS patch in shape, but it has several variations: An additional point at the top of the badge, an eagle with wings outspread and head facing to the left sitting on the top, and a slightly "fatter" main body. The badge was designed by agent Bill Dixon from R-8 in the 1970s. It is similar to other law enforcement badges of different agencies. The badge is silver with the top of the containing the words "FOREST" and "SERVICE" on two lines. These are separated by a bar across the narrow part of the badge from the remaining words: In the middle is a round symbol of the USDA in the center and a larger circle with the words "UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE" circling the upper three-quarters of the circle. On each side of the round symbol are the highly stylized letters "U" on the left and "S" on the right. Immediately above these letters, between the letters and the word "SERVICE" are two five-pointed stars - one on each side. At the bottom of the patch are the words "LAW ENFORCEMENT" on one line and the "& INVESTIGATIONS" on the second line, both inside a raised banner. Back to Top

Shoulder Patches

Since the early 1960s, a cloth shoulder patch was authorized for wear on the left shoulder of official uniform shirts and jackets. The first authorized patch, issued in 1962, was flat on the bottom and sides, but rounded on the top. A curved overhead bar was added to designate which national forest or other office the wearer was from. All of this was part of an effort–beginning in 1961–to present a new image of the employees to the public. During this time, there were newly redesigned hats, shoulder patches, forest unit bars (“rockers”), and name tags.

The current the Forest Service shield patch was authorized in 1974 and introduced to the agency on March 20, 1975. The new patch, in the same shape as the badge, has the shield outlined in yellow, with the words and tree also in yellow against a green background.

There are two variations: 1) an older, smaller 2-inch Forest Service flat bottom patch, sometimes called the women's patch, which is identical to the larger 4-inch patch and, 2) the newer, smaller 2-inch Forest Service shield patch, also referred to as the women's uniform patch, which is identical to the larger 4-inch patch except that the word "DEPARTMENT" is abbreviated to "DEPT." and the word "AGRICULTURE" is abbreviated as "AGRIC.".

There were also two shoulder patches that are distinctly different from the other patches: 1) a color variation–that of the Forest Service patch for winter snow ranger uniforms--orange border with black letters and tree on a white background and, 2) another snow ranger patch with a slightly smaller, black-bordered shield with a larger orange shield outline. Apparently, the snow ranger patches were worn from the 1950s to 1967. Several reasons for this unusual patch were: The patch could be worn on the outside of heavy winter clothing (the bronze badge would be underneath on a shirt, if it was worn). It was highly visible against a dark green jacket, and when falling in the snow, the bronze badge would not be lost or cause injury to the ranger. These patches were often worn above the left breast pocket on snow parkas.

Another special patch is that of Forest Service law enforcement. This resembles the regular FS patch in shape, size, and color with the following variations: At the top of the patch the words, in yellow thread, "FOREST" and "SERVICE" are on two lines. In the middle is a round symbol of the USDA in the center (outlined in yellow) and a larger circle with the words (in green) "DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE" circling the upper two-thirds of the yellow circle. On each side of the round symbol are the letters "U" on the left an "S" on the right. Immediately above these letters, between the letters and the top word "SERVICE" are two five-pointed stars - one on each side. At the bottom of the patch is the word "ENFORCEMENT" (in green) inside a yellow thread ribbon.

A very different shoulder patch have been authorized in recent years for Forest Service volunteers. This off-white patch is somewhat like the older Forest Service uniform patches: About 3 1/4 inches tall and 2 1/4 inches wide, with a flat bottom and rounded top. The patch is outlined in an olive green thread. The off-white background has sewn with olive green thread the words "FOREST SERVICE" with the word "VOLUNTEER" underneath. Above the words is a shallow "V" in a pea-green color which has two olive green evergreen trees (without needles) having three branches on each side of the main stem. The trees overlay a pea-green sun.

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USDA Forest Service - Northern Region
Last Modified: Wednesday, 13 July 2005 at 12:38:08 EDT