RECREATIONAL USES OF THE NATIONAL FORESTS 



135 



BEAUTIFUL VIEW FROM SECTION OF NEW ROAD IN THE ROUTT NATIONAL FOREST 



A view from the Rabbit Ears Pass road in the Routt National Forest, built by the Forest Service as part of the road system by which the National Forests 

 are being opened up to pleasure seekers. It is estimated that about one and a half million people used the National Forests last year for recreation purposes. 



But protection is only the beginning. The areas must 

 be opened up and made available for use by the public. 

 A few examples will illustrate some of our problems and 

 how we are working them out. 



In southern California, lying directly west of the Im- 

 perial Valley, rise the Laguna Mountains in the Cleve- 

 land National Forest. Those of you who have visited the 

 Imperial Valley know something of the intolerable heat 

 in the summer, situated as it is below the sea level. At 

 times the temperature is said to remain above 1 10 degrees 

 for eight or ten days and nights at a time. Thousands of 

 people leave the valley in summer. In fact, it is estimated 

 that the aggregate cost of these summer flights amounts 

 for those communities to from one to three million dollars. 

 We are now building a road from the main El Centro-San 

 Diego highway into the mountains, to a very beautiful 

 tract of forest situated at 6000 feet elevation. This road 

 will enable people of the Valley to reach the forest tract 

 in a few hours by automobile. The tract will be developed, 

 in cooperation with the citizens, as a resort, with hotels, 

 summer cottages, tents, and public camping grounds. 

 Many hundreds can be accommodated who now have to 

 travel long distances by rail to secure relief from the 

 heat. It is a real problem of pubHc health. It is also 

 a matter of saving many thousands of dollars to the 

 Valley people. Can any one say that from every stand- 

 point that forest tract is not more valuable for recreation 

 use than to cut into lumber? 



A similar situation exists in the Coronado National 

 Forest near Tucson, Arizona. Here the Santa Catalina 

 Mountains rise some 5300 feet above Tucson on the 

 desert, and are clothed with a splendid stand of timber, 

 fu.rnishing a cool and refreshing sunTmcr climate. Here the 

 Forest Service has worked out a complete plan of public 

 resort development, including a s^-stem of roads and trails, 

 a water supply, sanitary provisions, a telei:)hone system, 

 playgrounds, and park areas for motors. The value of 

 this resort, w-hen completed, to the city of Tucson with its 

 20,000 or more inhabitants w'ill be appreciated when one 

 considers that diuing the summer months there is a 

 difference of over 20 degrees in temperature of the 

 moimtains as compared to that in the city immediately 

 below. Well-to-do people regularly flock to the California 

 coast at this time; a means for recreation will, by the 

 proposed plan, be afforded to all, and it is expected that 

 5000 or more would avail themselves of the ad\'antage 

 at the first oj^portunity. 



Still another illustration is the development of the 

 Angeles Forest that comprises the mountain ranges back 

 of Los Angeles. Each year many thousand people visit 

 this Forest for short trips or a night's camping. In 

 addition there are being developed scores of summer com- 

 munities and pennanent camps. The canyons are lined 

 with cottages and camps, and the highland forest areas 

 are attracting people by scores for temporarj^ and per- 

 manent summer accommodations. Everv new road and 



