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

National Forests

National forest lands are and should be widely used for recreation. Recreation might be considered as one of many forest crops which must be included in the sustained-yield policy. Where it is the primary forest product it should not be jeopardized by concurrent and competing commercial objectives. Lands that are chiefly valuable for recreation and which meet park standards should be established as such. Where recreation is concomitant with other forest objectives, it should be provided for by the forest administration.

The report to the National Conference on Outdoor Recreation contains the following summary of the present and future recreational use of national forests:

The national forests are rich in resources of very great value for other than purely material purposes. Recreational use is a public service compatible with the laws under which the forests are administered and with sound principles of land economy and public welfare. In the public and private forests of other countries, with long-established systems of forest management, public use for recreation is thoroughly recognized as an important form of land service. In this country, as population grows and economic and industrial needs become more intensive, there will be an increasing need for opportunities for refreshment of body and spirit which the out-of-doors alone can give and which the great national forests can supply in abundant measure. The use of forest highways, trails, and campgrounds by the recreation-seeking public will progressively increase. There will be appreciable increases in the numbers of outdoor camps maintained on national-forest lands by counties, municipalities, and other political units and by semiofficial or unofficial agencies. The number of summer homes maintained under special-use permits will mount progressively. Private capital and initiative engaged in supplying the outdoor recreational needs of the American public will turn to the national forest fields of operation and will encourage and develop many forms of outdoor sport under national forest conditions which are now of minor consequence. While intensive and mass forms of outdoor recreation will properly continue to be encouraged on the national forests, due recognition, it is hoped, will be given—and given now before it is too late—to the legitimate demand for opportunities to enjoy the simpler forms of wilderness outdoor life disassociated with highways and crowds.

It is clear that the social requirements of the future demand definite provision for recreation as a part of the planning necessary for the orderly development of national forest resources and the realization from them of the maximum public benefits.¹⁹

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¹⁹ Joint Committee on Recreational Survey of Federal Lands, Recreation Resources of Federal Lands, Washington, D. C., National Conference on Outdoor Recreation, 1928, pp. 107—108.

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Last Modified: Fri, Sep. 5, 2003 10:32:22 am PDT
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