Rslph S. Space was raised in Clearwater Country and graduated from Weippe High School and the University of Idaho. He earned his degree in forestry.

He started out doing seasonal work for the Forest Service on the Coeur d'Alene, St. Joe and Selway national forests as a smokejumper, scaler, timekeeper and foreman. His first appointment was to the Olney Ranger District on the Blackfeet National Forest which later became part of the Kootenai and Flathead forests. He later served on the Wolf Creek and Fortine Ranger Districts and on the Supervisor's staff at the Blackfeet National Forest. He also served on the Flathead National Forest and in the Northern Regional Headquarters Division of Recreation, Lands and Watershed Management and later in the Divisiono of Fire Control. In 1950, he became supervisor of the Cabinet National Forest and in June 1954 was appointed the supervisor of the Clearwater National Forest. He retired from that position in April 1963.

His book, The Clearwater Story, is a general history of the Clearwater National Forest beginning with the Nez Perce Indians going on through exploration, mining, devastating fires like those in 1910 and 1919, the beginning of logging, homesteading and much more that tells the story of the area. The book was published in 1964.

Space was a member of both the Idaho and Montana historical societies.

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