The first duty of the department was to ascertain the position and extent of the remaining forests, and more particularly of that portion which still belonged to the state. Then a special forest law was passed, which was superseded in 1878 by an improved act, providing for the legal formation of permanent state forests; the determination, regulation, and, if necessary, commutation of forest rights; the protection of the forests against unlawful acts and the punishment of forest offences; the protection of forest produce in transit; the constitution of a staff of forest officers, provision to invest them with suitable legal powers, and the determination of their duties and liabilities. The officers who administered the department in its infancy were mostly botanists and military officers. Some of these became excellent foresters. In order to provide a technically trained staff arrangements were made in 1866 by Sir Dietrich Brandis, the first inspector-general of forests, for the training of young Englishmen at the French Forest School at Nancy and at similar institutions in Germany. In 1876 the students were concentrated at Nancy, and in 1885 an English forest school for India was organized in connexion with the Royal Indian Engineering College at Cooper's Hill. In 1905 the school was transferred to the university of Oxford. The imperial forest staff of India consisted in 1909 of--officers not specially trained before entering the department, 17; officers trained in France and Germany, 23; officers trained at Cooper's Hill, 143--total 184.
In 1878 a forest school was started at Dehra Dun, United Provinces, for the training of natives of India as executive officers on the provincial staff. Since then a similar school, though on a smaller scale, has been established at Tharrawaddy in Burma. About 500 officers of this class have been appointed. In addition, there are about 11,000 subordinates, foresters and forest guards, who form the protective staff. The school at Dehra Dun has lately been converted into the Imperial Forest College.