USES OF NATURAL AREAS 



25 



sion of scenic areas now outside park 

 limits. 



The enlargement of Sequoia National 

 Park by the creation of Roosevelt- 

 Sequoia National Park, involves not 

 alone addition of desirable territory, 

 but exclusion from the park boundary of 

 parts of park territory. The addition 

 includes some of the finest Sierra coun- 

 try — Mt. Whitney, the Kings and Kern 

 Canyons and Tehipite Valley. The bill, 

 as it now stands, retains all but a small 

 part of the 3 southern townships whose 

 exclusion met with so much opposition 

 among naturalists. Most of the Sequoia 

 groves are retained. The inclusion of 

 the headwaters and canyons of the 

 Kings River, one of the finest valleys 

 of the Sierras, is meeting with strong 

 opposition from local irrigation districts. 



The proposed change in Yosemite 

 National Park also involves the acquir- 

 ing of a section of the High Sierras, and 

 the exclusion of certain private lands 

 (10,959.89 acres) along the western 

 boundary. These private holdings cause 

 administrative difficulties, because of 

 grazing problems and the cutting of the 

 timber. In both cases, the territory 

 (not now privately owned) excluded 

 from the parks comes under the control 

 of the Forest Service. 



Proposals for new parks and monu- 

 ments are constantly being made. All 

 must be investigated for availability and 

 desirability. The area must be one of 

 national, not merely local interest. 

 Areas of great local interest should be 

 taken care of as State parks. Only one 

 national park, Lafayette, is situated 

 east of the Mississippi River. It seems 

 desirable that the park system be in- 

 creased in this section of the country if 

 suitable areas can be secured. Among 

 proposals here, are Sand Dunes, ^ Mis- 

 sissippi Valley, Appalachia, Everglades, 

 Mount Katahdin, and Mammoth Cave. 

 In the West, where scenic features of 

 merit are more numerous, many propo- 



2 "Report on the Proposed Sand Dunes National 

 Park, Indiana." Stephen T. Mather, Director of 

 the National Park Service. 1917. 113 pp. 



sals have been made prominent among 

 which is the Glacier Bay region of 

 Alaska. Many worthy areas have also 

 been proposed as national monuments. 

 Proposals presented to the Sixty- 

 eighth Congress, include the following: 



Mount Katahdin (Maine). 



Killdeer Mountain (North Dakota). 



Roosevelt (North Dakota). 



Mammoth Cave (Kentucky). 



Mississippi Valley (Wisconsin, Iowa). 



Utah (Utah). 



Appalachia (Virginia) — to include sum- 

 mit of High Knob Mountain. 



Wonderland (South Dakota). 



Lincoln (Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee) 

 — to include High Pinnacle Moun- 

 tain and Cumberland Gap. 



Nicolet (Wisconsin) — an abandoned 

 military reservation; 1046 acres. 



Battle of Bear's Paw (Montana) — as a 

 national monument. 



Grand Coulee (Washington). 



Yakima (Washington) — to include Mt. 

 Adams and surrounding territory. 



Blue Knob (Pennsylvania). 



An area in a National Forest reservation 

 in Georgia. 



Many other bills to establish national 

 parks and monuments have been pre- 

 sented. All such areas have been or are 

 being investigated. 



There has recently been appointed by 

 Secretary Work, a Southern Appalachian 

 Park Committee. This committee is 

 "to undertake a thorough study of the 

 Southern Appalachian Mountains for 

 the purpose of selecting the most worthy 

 site in that range as a national park, 

 in order to conserve the scenery and the 

 plant and animal life under established 

 national park policies for the use and 

 education of our people." They have 

 since recommended two areas, the 

 Shenandoah in Virginia and the Great 

 Smokies in Tennessee and North Caro- 

 lina. 



The national park system will doubt- 

 less continue to expand, and to increase 

 in value as its parks and monuments 

 become increasingly popular as rec- 

 reational areas, and as natural areas 

 in which the study of native fauna and 

 flora may be carried on to advantage. 



