Cover Page

Contents

Preface
Letter

SECTION I

Orientation
Summary

SECTION II

History
Needs
Geography
Historic Sites
Competitors
Economic Aspects

SECTION III

Federal Lands
State and Interstate
Local

SECTION IV

Division of Responsibility
Local
State
Federal
Circulation

SECTION V

Educational Opportunities

Economic Effects of Developed Recreational Resources

Municipal and Metropolitan.—It has long been recognized in a general way that establishment of parks of the municipal or metropolitan type has important and beneficial results on the value of properties adjacent to or within easy reach of them, especially when these properties are devoted to residential uses. There is a genuine money value in an attractive outlook from a dwelling place and in the ready availability of breathing spaces which may be used for rest or for physical activity. Purchasers or renters of residence property recognize these money values, and it is doubtful if any dealer in real estate has ever overlooked the possibility of realizing increased income from them, though real estate operators have been short-sighted in appreciating the economic wisdom of providing areas for recreation use in subdivisions. There are, of course, notable exceptions.

No comprehensive figures as to the increased property valuations resulting from establishment of parks have ever been brought together, but there is available a considerable volume of data which strongly supports contentions as to their economic effect.

One of the important achievements which may be traced to parks is the greater consideration now given to logical planning and development of lands surrounding them. This is particularly true in townships surrounding county park lands. Here, because of the parks, the lands have taken on new values as residential sites, and the towns, appreciating the fact that this growth must be guided, have created zoning boards. Areas near parks are frequently places under strict zone regulations, especially where gasoline stations and commercial stands are involved, so that the increased land valuation derived from park location and embellishment may not be entirely lost.

The withdrawal of lands for park purposes from tax rolls presents a problem in the more remote, sparsely populated counties from which this withdrawal is made. Where the removal of lands for parks affects the county tax returns, it may be possible to realign the counties or political subdivisions so as to reduce duplication in administrative services and other contingent costs. Thus the loss of taxes on lands removed for park purposes would be inconsequential.

Recreational Use of Land as a Factor in Rural Economic Life.—In addition to the employment furnished to the year-long and temporary officers of the National and State parks through the operation of these recreational areas, there is provided also much labor of a seasonal character which dovetails very nicely with the needs of many of the residents of the surrounding regions engaged in agricultural pursuits. Seasonal work within the National and State parks and forests provides a vital part of their livelihood. Thus their income from agriculture or stock raising, which by itself would be too meager to provide living conditions satisfactory under American standards, is supplemented. This is especially pertinent in connection with subsistence homesteads which are now being established adjacent to some of the national parks and forests. In this manner the parks play a very essential part in the social life and welfare of the Nation, not only by providing areas where leisure time may profitably be spent in health-giving out-of-door recreation, but also by tying in directly with the support and welfare of the residents of the regions immediately surrounding these areas.

The decline in use of land for agriculture has brought in its train, due to lowered tax income, a whole series of problems having to do with maintenance of roads, schools, and other public services. It seems probable that this condition, in addition to the depletion of forest resources and governmental activity to remove submarginal lands from agricultural use, will force consolidation of governmental units, chiefly counties. At least a partial offset to these several factors, however, is the recreational use and recreational desirability of lands unsuited to uses primarily economic.

This field is as yet explored only in very fragmentary fashion. Such studies as have been made, however, indicate that in certain regions at least, the offsetting influence of this type of use is one of large proportions. Leaders in New Hampshire public life, for instance, see in it an important part of the solution of their idle land problems. It takes the form chiefly of establishment of summer homes, summer camps, resorts of various kinds and all the commercial and agricultural undertakings that derive benefit from them and from the people who use them.

Discussing the erection of country estates, a Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station bulletin calls attention to the fact that this gives "opportunity for many people to obtain employment by working on the improvements and taking care of summer homes and country residences. In addition, there is a profitable local market for the sale of farm produce."¹¹

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¹¹ Rozman, David, Recreational and forestry uses of land in Massachusetts. Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin No. 294.

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The Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station at Connecticut State College has made a survey of recreational uses of land in Connecticut, which discloses the following interesting facts:

The largest classification on the list of recreational property is that of summer residences with a total assessed valuation of $130,777,763. Summer homes and lots constitute 63.6 percent of the total land devoted to recreation in the State. Land used in this manner comprises one-eighth of the total land area of the State.

Eighty-two golf courses, covering 10,899 acres, have a land valuation of $4,000,000, with buildings on the grounds which have a valuation of $6,500,000.

Eighty-six hunting and fishing clubs cover 27,987 acres, and there are 50 yacht and beach clubs, covering 90 acres, with an assessed valuation of snore than $1,900,000.

The total assessed value of hand and buildings devoted to recreational purposes in Connecticut is $200,000,000.

State Parks and Other Recreation Areas.—No extensive studies of the economic effects of establishment of State parks have ever been made. An investigation of this subject, undertaken in connection with a small group of typical State parks, indicates certain fairly general economic consequences of their establishment. The general experience and observation of State park authorities tends to support the correctness of the findings that resulted from this limited investigation.

The increase in nearby land values, which is typical in the case of municipal or metropolitan parks, is reflected in varying degrees in connection with lands adjoining State parks, but in general a somewhat different set of factors is responsible for it. The increased desirability of adjoining lands for residential use is similar in the case of State parks and city parks, though this residential use is largely of the summer home type. Most of the effects on values are due to commercial opportunities which result from the use of the parks.

When park use increases, usually during the summer, employment in the parks increases, and the close-by resident very generally has an advantage in obtaining such seasonal employment.

Where parks are of sufficient size and attractiveness to draw an appreciable volume of more than 1-day use, so that the park visitors undertake preparation of meals in the park, there is a distinctly improved market for the products of nearby farms—eggs, butter, fresh fruits, vegetables, etc. Hotels and lunchrooms in the parks also use considerable quantities of such produce.

Park users are also; in many cases, good customers for rural handicraft products, particularly if they are typical of the region, such as Indian pottery and rugs, or Appalachian and Blue Ridge furniture, pottery, and woven articles.

State parks in a great number of cases supply desirable patronage for overnight accommodation on nearby farms or in nearby towns.

An economic result which is socially undesirable, but that has a greater or less effect on enhancement of real estate values, is the tendency of parasite commercial ventures to establish themselves as close to the park entrance as they can get. These include, of course, the outdoor advertisement, the gasoline station, the lunch counter—commonly referred to as the "hot-dog stand"—the dance hall, etc. Existence of the park contributes to them, in many cases, nearly all the value they possess; they, on the other hand, tend to depreciate the value of the park by crowding in on it with garish, architecturally ugly and heterogeneous structures. Control of such economic developments is asserted in various ways—by establishing areas of concentrated use as well inside the park or by providing parkway approaches on which complete public control of the roadside may be asserted; by zoning; by acquisition of easements limiting the use of hands within a certain distance of a park entrance.

The experience of State park authorities in obtaining extensions of existing parks is ample proof of increased values, actual or assumed. In scores of instances attempts to enlarge parks already open to public use have resulted, even where condemnation was resorted to, in payment of vastly higher prices than were paid for the earlier acquisitions—a situation which points to the wisdom, wherever possible, of acquiring parks whole, and where that is not possible, postponing development or encouragement of public use. Some of the increased costs mentioned above are due to increased land values, some to adverse developments, frequently of the parasite commercial class.

Local Economic Pressure.—A considerable number of mediocre parks, lacking in scenic distinction and of slight or purely local recreational value, have been admitted in to State park systems because of pressure from communities which feel that establishment of any sort of State park will result in local economic benefit. Such parks often impose on the States a burden which should properly be assumed locally. Acceptance of them tends to break down those standards which are the principal bulwark for maintenance of a high quality park system.

Defenses against this undesirable pressure are various. One essential is the existence of a park authority with sufficient understanding of the whole problem to set up wise standards of admission, to survey the natural recreational resources in the territory of its jurisdiction, and to select areas which are properly entitled to inclusion in the system. This needs to be combined with sufficient authority to preserve the integrity of the system as a whole, and a fixed policy of viewing each part of the problem from the viewpoint of the region, State, or Nation as a whole. It is particularly important that proposed gifts of parks be given earnest scrutiny to determine their quality and to ascertain whether they fit properly into a planned and well balanced system. Supporting and buttressing such a stand by the several park agencies should be a national plan in which each desirable area would occupy its proper place.

Returns in Form of Offsets to Certain Other Governmental Costs.—The part which active recreation plays in preventing juveniles from becoming criminals and in helping their reform has been recognized by sociologists.

A statement by Hon. George W. Wickersham, former chairman of the National Commission on Law Obedience and Enforcement, emphasizes the high value of recreation in reducing crime.

We can accomplish far more in the preventing than punishing crime. One hundred thousand dollars invested in a children's playground in one of our cities is far more remunerative than 1 million dollars expended its building a prison or reformatory.¹²

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¹² Wickersham, Hon. George W., Staying the Flow of Youth to Prison, New York Times Magazine, July 17, 1932.

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Dr. Neva R. Deardorff, Director of the Research Bureau of the New York City Welfare Council made a study of conditions in Brooklyn. Quoting from the New York Times on this study, "* * * the report concludes that one-fourth of all the boys in Brooklyn live in neighborhoods 'which give evidence of particularly adverse conditions of childhood', and states that Brooklyn is markedly underequipped with suitable social-recreational resources for its boys." Of the 87,000 boys living in districts with the highest juvenile delinquency rates, the report estimates that only 18,000 boys "are being reached in any degree by the organizations interested."

Randolph O. Huus in his investigations found that "more studies to show the effect of playgrounds and community centers on the extent of juvenile delinquency conclude that the existence of active play areas reduces the amount of juvenile delinquency in the neighborhoods investigated."¹³

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¹³ Huus, Randolph O., Financial Aspects of Municipal Recreation, from unpublished manuscript.

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The following statements are quoted from a pamphlet, Children's Play and Delinquency, published by the Playground and Recreation Association of America:¹⁴

Analysis of a neighborhood by District Attorney Charles Edwin Fox of Philadelphia, who covered the district for 5 years before and a like period after the establishment of playgrounds, led him to state: "I discovered the remarkable fact that in the 5 years of playground recreation, the neighborhood showed a 50 percent decrease in juvenile delinquency, as compared with the previous years"—January 27, 1927.

Dr. Charles Platt, President of the National Probation Association, states: "I am interested in the prevention of delinquency, and I am interested inn the salvaging of delinquents. I have given much study to these problems and, as a result of this study, I feel sure that the cultivation of healthful play is one of the first social duties. I know that juvenile delinquency in our large cities increases in direct ratio with the distance from a playground. I know that juvenile delinquency, as I have just been saying, is, in intention at least, but an expression of misdirected play, as I know that this play, when properly directed, prevents this delinquency. I know, too, that even after a child has fallen into crime, it is play that is most useful in recovering him."

"Looking over my records beginning January 2, 1924, I fail to find the name of a single boy brought into the juvenile court as a delinquent from my district who had been a regular attendant of the playground or social center, which is the winter playground for the boy. I know of no source which has helped me more in correcting delinquent boys than the playground, for it is during idle moments that the boy gets into trouble."—John W. Boinski, probation officer, juvenile court, Milwaukee, Wis. September 1 1926.

Henry B. Chamberlain, operating director of the Chicago Crime Commission, says, "In retracing the tortuous paths of the youthful criminal it is seldom found that the trail leads back to the playground, the diamond, the athletic field, or the community counter. In investigating crime with special reference to the work conducted by the Chicago Crime Commission, I have been impressed with the fact that a very large percentage of those apprehended have been strangers to the influence exerted by such activities as those mentioned. The young delinquent has, in the majority of instances, grown up in the atmosphere of the saloon, the poolroom, and similar hangouts."

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¹⁴ N. d. (c. 1928).

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Examples of this sort could be multiplied indefinitely. They dwell on the social benefits of recreation, but it is evident that from the standpoint of public expenditure there is an economic side to consider. Juvenile delinquency is a condition which has a definite relationship to costs of police service, of maintenance of courts, and of maintenance of reform schools and prisons. To quote again from Mr. Wickersham's article in the New York Times:

Children need wholesome outlets for their natural animal spirits. Youth is normally fond of adventure, delights in physical exercise and in taking risks. Deny the child innocent scope for these tendencies and it will find vent in criminal tendencies. Warden Lawes tells us that the records of Sing Sing show that 90 percent of the prisoners were never associated with any boy's club or any of the juvenile associations where boys learn how to spend their leisure in wholesome recreation.

"Educators and social workers know", Lawes says, "that juvenile delinquency gives way before supervised playgrounds and well-organized boys' and kindred organizations. And yet reliable authority has it that three out of every five children in our greatest cities are without adequate opportunity for whole-some play.

"What a terrible indictment that is of our society and its government. We spend millions of dollars on police and courts and prisons, and yet we do not see that our children have adequate playgrounds where they can work off their natural spirits in wholesome sport and keep away from the influences that bring them in later years to occupy the time and attention of the police and the courts and to fill our prisons."

Mr. Wickersham advocates local governmental responsibility for adequate playgrounds and athletic equipment to be furnished for all the boys and girls of the community under competent guidance. He further says that boys and girls should be encouraged to join the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts.

Warden Lawes in his recent book, Twenty Thousand Years in Sing Sing states:

In the last analysis if there is to be any permanent diminution of crime we have to look to our adolescents * * *. A well known educator promised a decade ago that with the opening of every school he would close a jail. His promise has not been fulfilled. He did not appreciate the importance of regulated and well-supervised leisure. He did not appreciate the fallacy of an education that taught the child to read, but neglected the opportunity to teach him to work or even to play.

It is a well-established fact that supervised recreation in congested areas makes for crime prevention.

How much the provision for adequate recreational facilities and qualified leadership—equally necessary in connection with the recreation of children and adolescents—serves to cut down the cost of police courts, and prisons it is impossible to estimate, but it appears safe to assume, on the basis of examples quoted, that it is very considerable. That saving, plus the saving in doctor and hospital bills and maintenance of insane asylums, due to the better physical and mental health resulting from a sufficiency of the right kind of recreation, combines with other factors to give a very great degree of economic justification to wise programs of recreation.

Private Enterprise in the Field of Outdoor Recreation.—It is, of course, recognized that a very large volume of private commercial enterprise exists wholly or partly to serve recreational demands. Of the total of more than $10,000,000,000¹⁵ which was estimated to have been the annual recreation bill of the people of the United States just previous to the depression, all of that expenditure except the $205,347,000¹⁶ estimated as governmental expenditure—Federal, State, and local—passed directly from the hands of the recreation user into the hands of private enterprise.

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¹⁵ President's Research Committee on Social Trends, op. cit., p. 949.

¹⁶ Editor's note: Computed from tabulations contained in: Financial Statistics of States, 1939; Financial Statistics of Cities, 1930; County Parks, Playgrounds, and Recreation Associations of America; Report of the Secretary of the Interior 1933, p. 201; Report of the Forester, U. S. Forest Service, 1931.

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It should not be overlooked, however, that the public provision of recreational facilities was and is a large factor in the promotion of commercial recreational enterprise. The motor traveler, drawn from his home to visit a State park, for example, buys gasoline and oil from a private corporation, and buys his meals from a private purveyor along the way. He may spend his money at a hotel or a motor camp or a tourist home for overnight accommodation on the way. The very existence and accessibility of public places of recreation were doubtless factors in his original decision to have an automobile, and therefore a part of the first cost of the automobile is, in reality, an expenditure for recreation.

The American Automobile Association estimates that almost $4,000,000,000 was spent in motor camping and vacation travel in the United States during the year 1929. It does not seem unreasonable to assume that one-quarter of the vacation motor travel is through forested country, and this would mean that annual forest vacation motor expenditures amounted to about $1,000,000,000.

The Special Senate Committee on Conservation of Wild Life Resources calculates that in 1929 hunters and fishermen spent $650,000,000 in addition to transportation expenses. It would be conservative to estimate that at least three-quarters of this enormous sum was spent on forest hunting or fishing, which would mean that this form of forest recreation accounts for an annual outlay of approximately half a billion dollars.

No national figures are available for the amount of money spent each year on summer homes, hotel and resort accommodations (other than those paid for by automobile tourists), hiking equipment, or the outfits required f or wilderness journeys. These expenditures would unquestionably run half as high as those for hunting and fishing. Consequently, the following would seem to be a reasonable, although admittedly a very rough estimate of the amount of money spent on forest recreation during the peak recreation year of 1929:

Forest vacation motor travel	$1,000,000,000
Hunting and fishing	500,000,000
Summer homes, resorts, hiking, wilderness journeys	250,000,000
Total	1,750,000,00017

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¹⁷ Robert Marshall, The People's Forests, Harrison Smith and Robert Hass, New York, 1933, 233 pp. (See pp. 65—57.)

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Phillips and Lincoln give some indication of the extent to which private enterprise is stimulated by the existence of duck clubs alone.

It would be extremely interesting and instructive if we could get some idea of the total amount of investment in wild-fowling equipment the whole country over. Take, for example, the two-thousand-odd duck clubs in the United States. Many of these own a couple of gasoline boats, 10 or 15 duckboats for use in going to the blinds, sails for the same, and perhaps a few retriever dogs.

All clubs certainly have several sets of wooden decoy rigs and a number of boxes, either of wood or cement, which have to be kept in repair, moved from time to time, or reset. There may be a horse or two used to keep the ponds baited and to transport a big rig of live decoys, and probably nowadays a motor truck. Some clubs keep large teams of live goose decoys, which must be fed every day of the year and if possible increased by breeding while most of them have a flock of life ducks. We have not mentioned the investment in land nor in living quarters, which last may consist of a small hut or a commodious dwelling with all modern conveniences.

Those clubs which depend on water transport often own an elaborate cruiser boat where the members can eat and sleep. The investment in equipment of clubs must run from two to three hundred dollars at the lowest to twenty-five of fifty thousand at the other end of the scale. If we take $3,000 as a low average, we arrive at a rough figure of 6 million dollars for the sporting equipment of our clubs alone, exclusive of all the real estate.

But do not forget the individual duck shooter who has a very considerable investment himself. He owns a set of warm clothing at the least, plus waterproof outer garments, one or more pairs of rubber boots, a few live and wooden decoys, and a canoe or skiff, besides his guns and his shells. Put him down at $100 per man and we get an investment of $100,000,000 to $200,000,000 in sporting equipment, according to the number of duck shooters which we may estimate in all these United States.¹⁸

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¹⁸ Phillips, John C., and Lincoln, Frederick C., 1930, op. cit., pp. 261—262.

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Among the various types of active recreation privately financed, golf holds an important place. In 1931 the total membership of the 3,961 private golf clubs listed by the Golfer's Year Book was estimated at 800,000. In that year the estimated value of private golf club properties was $765,000,000.

Existence of publicly owned golf courses, tennis courts, baseball diamonds, etc., is directly responsible for the large investment in clothing and equipment needed by those who use them, and who would otherwise be unable to indulge in these sports.

A very large volume of privately conducted commercial enterprise is found actually within the public forests and parks themselves, where hotels, lunchrooms, and stores have been established either with public or private funds and are operated under concession or franchise contract.

Recent studies by the Forest Service show that there are within and near the national forests more than 5,000 farms and ranches primarily operated for recreational purposes, including hunting and fishing. The 1929 report of the Dude Ranchers' Association, an organization composed of ranches in Montana and Wyoming, whose business is based on recreation, shows 51 ranches with property value at 6-1/4 million dollars, and annual receipts of nearly a million and a half dollars.

The spending of funds (brought from remote regions) within regions contiguous to forests, parks, and other recreation areas, creates local markets for goods and services; tends to expansion of local business interests; and brings about changes in local community life. In passing from local hands, these funds contribute again to an industrial demand by the local residents for the products of remote manufacturing regions.

One measure of the importance of recreation values is the annual income derived from vacationists. Wisconsin reports a figure of $70,000,000 income from tourists.¹⁹ A study by the Development Commission of the State of Maine made in December 1932, indicates that vacationists spent $85,684,741 in Maine in 1930. The New Hampshire Foundation, cooperating with the State development commission, gives $75,000,000 as New Hampshire's income from tourists. New England's vacationist income is undoubtedly large and is important not only because of its amount but because it is expended in all parts of the various communities.

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¹⁹ Bulletin No. 422, Agriculture Experiment Station, University of Wisconsin, 1932.

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New England offers numerous concrete examples not only of the economic value of outdoor recreation but of the shift in use of lands pointing to possible similar changes in other regions. In that section many acres of land formerly useful for agriculture and timber are now used solely for recreation. Certain towns have passed through a cycle. Beginning with a stratum of industrial employment and prosperous farming, they passed through a severe decline in all of these to a point once more of increasing population, a higher standard of living, increased income, and higher assessed land values resulting from the vacationist's demand for goods and services. In these instances, the recreational industry appears to have more than replaced agriculture and manufacture.

Private enterprise in the field of recreation is shown in Table V taken from data gathered by the New England Council, Boston.²⁰

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²⁰ Recreational Land Uses in New England, L.W. Chidester, Journal Land and Public Utility Economics, May 1934.

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Massachusetts reports that on 50 farms sold (1925—30) values rose 88.1 percent, their present use being for recreational and residential purposes.²¹

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²¹ Massachusetts Experiment Station Bulletin No. 294, 2923.

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¹ Given by the Maine Development Commission.

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Analysis by the Maine Development Commission of the distribution of vacationist expenditures in Maine shows that hotels and sporting camps receive 16 percent of the total, garages and filling stations 9 percent, and overnight camps, rooms, and eating places 7 percent.

The distribution of tourist expenditures among local business interests is shown in the following table:

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¹ From Maine Development Commission Survey, 1932.

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