There are local ranger district offices located in Pisgah Forest, Mars Hill, and Nebo.

The new preserve included approximately 86,700 acres (35,100 ha) that had been part of the Biltmore Estate, but were sold to the federal government in 1914 by Edith Vanderbilt.

The school was opened and operated at the direction of George Washington Vanderbilt II, builder of the Biltmore Estate in Asheville.

A native German, Schenk was referred to Vanderbilt when Gifford Pinchot resigned to operate the newly formed Division of Forestry.

The Cradle of Forestry and the Biltmore Estate played a major role in the birth of the U.S. Forest Service.

The Grandfather and Appalachian Ranger Districts lie in the northern mountains of North Carolina and include areas such as the Linville Gorge Wilderness, Wilson Creek, the watersheds of the Toe and Cane rivers, Roan Mountain, Mount Mitchell, Craggy Gardens, and the Big Ivy/Coleman Boundary area.

[citation needed] The Appalachian Trail passes through this district, as well as the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee.

The land and its resources are also used for hunting, wildlife management, and timber harvesting, as well as the North Carolina Arboretum.

In descending order they are Transylvania, McDowell, Haywood, Madison, Caldwell, Burke, Yancey, Buncombe, Avery, Mitchell, Henderson, and Watauga counties.