This place on Trout Lake was selected by E. M. Griffith, Wisconsin's first State Forester, as the headquarters for the State Board of Forestry's forest restoration program. Early in 1911, a civil service examination was given and the first forest rangers were appointed. Their primary duties were to begin a tree-planting program to protect forest lands from fire, and both activities later spread across the entire state. On this site, the first seed beds using pine of local origin were sown. Although some preparatory work had been done in 1910, the ground was actually broken in 1911, and the first planting stock was lifted in 1913. The tangible beginning of the restoration of Wisconsin's forest resources was here.