360 



AA^IERICAN FORESTRY 



Forests visited by pleasure seekers. Camp sites are laid 

 out and forage reserved for the traveler's benefit. Signs 

 posted in conspicuous places ask him to use care with 

 fire and to leave his camp site in a sanitarj' condi- 

 tion. Garbage pits are provided in which he may bum 

 litter and waste-paper. In this way it is hoped to educate 

 the visitor in ways different from those which arouse the 

 ire of private land-owners. The signs tell the camper, 

 for one thing, that he is part owner of the National 

 Forests, and that injur>' to them means injurj' to his own 

 property. Other than the rules regarding fire and proper 

 camp sanitation, there are no restrictions upon those who 

 come to the National Forests for recreation. Maps of the 

 Forests, showing the location of attractive camp sites, 

 fishing streams, postoffices, telephones and ranger sta- 

 tions, are distributed by the various supervisors. The 

 recreational resources are being developed in the same 

 way as the other resources, like timber, water, and forage. 

 They are open to ever>-body on equal terms, and are 

 meant for the enjoyment of the man with the slim 

 pocketbook as much as for the man with the fat one. 



In marked contrast with conditions in the National 

 Forests are those on most privately owned tracts. Here, 

 for example, is a lake famous for its fishing, used by many 

 people as a recreation ground. The lake is situated so as 

 to make it possible to impound a supph- of water for elec- 

 trical power. A power company obtains a deed to the land 

 surrovmding the lake and builds a dam. This enlarges the 

 lake, making it of even greater value for recreational piu-- 

 poses, but as soon as the power company gains control of 

 the land it sticks up signs warning the public to keep off — 

 the land is private property. 



Recreational use of the borders of the lake would not 

 in any way interfere with the impounding of the water. 

 Had the title to the lake shores, which were once the prop- 

 erty of the Federal Government, been retained under 

 pubhc control and an easement given the power company 

 to impound water, the company would have had all that 

 was needed for the development of power, while the pubUc 

 would have had the opportimity to enjoy the lake. As it 

 is, the opportunities for recreation which the lake affords 

 are wholly wksted. 



I know of a National Park that is approached along the 

 valley of a river where there is much patented land not 

 cultivated or cropped. In days gone by the owners of 



these lands did not protest against the pubHc using them, 

 for in those days few people came to the region. Nowa- 

 days, however, travel over this road has increased two or 

 three hundred per cent, and "No Camping" signs have 

 blossomed forth everywhere, while long stretches of the 

 road ha\-e been fenced. One owner of a considerable 

 amount of land in the vicinity has announced his intention 

 of developing water upon his property and allowing visi- 

 tors to camp there. It should be explained, however, that 

 for the use of this camp location a charge is to be made of 

 $1 per day per person. 



Several cities in Colorado have already taken steps to 

 meet the need for public camping grounds. Denver has 

 set aside in its largest park an area which may be occupied 

 free of charge by those who motor ■with camp equipment. 

 Colorado City and Colorado Springs also have free camp- 

 ing areas where motor visitors are welcome. 



To come back to the National Forests, I should like to 

 quote from an article published in a Denver newspaper: 



"The Government, by its well-worded, cordial invita- 

 tions and the magnificent roads it creates and maintains, 

 will eventually draw the public to sections where liberty in- 

 stead of restraint is in the air. Perhaps the most striking 

 illustration just now is the boulevard from Steamboat 

 Springs to the top of the Rabbit Ear Range. Here are 

 twenty-five miles of perfect road, thoroughly signed and 

 posted, through a fem and flower comitrj- of such magnifi- 

 cence that a visit only can tell its glories. The movement 

 is young, but one who runs can read that the day of barbed 

 wire and selfish restraints on the tourist is doomed." 



The road referred to was bviilt by the Forest Service, in 

 cooperation with the counties concerned, through the 

 Routt National Forest. It is one of a great system of good 

 roads which the Forest Service is building in the National 

 Forests as a means of opening them up to the pubhc. The 

 simi of $10,000,000, to be spent a million dollars a year for 

 ten years, was appropriated by Congress in 1916 for 

 National Forest roads. A sum equivalent to 10 per 

 cent of the gross receipts of the Forests is also avail- 

 able annually for road building purposes. In time 

 the full recreational possibilities of the National Forests 

 will be made available for the enjoyment of the American 

 people. In the promotion of public health and public 

 happiness the Forests promise to be a tremendously 

 valuable national asset. 



FOREST fires in the United States have caused an aver- 

 age annual loss of seventy human lives and twenty- 

 five to fifty milUon dollars' worth of timber. The indirect 

 losses run close to half a billion a year. 



THE California State Forestry Department has thrown 

 open to the entire state, and those from other states, 

 the state forests as a national pleasure ground, in the 

 theory that by thus treating the national forests the future 

 of the forests is best assured. 



SAVE coal by burning wood which can't be used for 

 anything else. The fuel value of two pounds of wood 

 is roughly equivalent to that of one pound of coal. 



WHEN cutting firewood, remove the poorer species first 

 from your woods. Defective chestnut might as well 

 be cut, for the bUght will surely get it. Soft maple, gum, 

 sassafras, catalpa, aspen, and hackberry are not often val- 

 uable for other uses. 



OVER 40,000 forest fires burned 5,900,000 acres of forest 

 in the United States in 1915. About 1,100 of them 

 burned 380,000 acres in Pennsylvania. 



NO wonder newsprint is scarce. There are 2,580 daily 

 newspapers in the United States. Over 800 have 

 gone out of business since the rise in paper prices began. 



