REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 43 



RECREATION USE OF THE FORESTS. 



The use of the National Forests for recreation purposes continues 

 to extend. This important aspect of forest utilization was dis- 

 cussed at length in my last report. It is not necessary again to en- 

 large upon it. As the upbuilding of the West goes on and cities 

 and towns increase in number and size, provision for community 

 needs along what may be called park lines increasingly will become a 

 part of National Forest administration. Thousands of local recrea- 

 tion centers, public picnic and camping grounds, excursion points, 

 and amusement resorts are being developed in places readily reached 

 by large numbers of people, as well as at the innumerable lakes, 

 mineral and hot springs, other marvels of nature, and spots of scenic 

 beauty with which the mountains abound. Many of these places will 

 attract visitors from distant parts of the country and will become 

 widely known. Some of the areas, located near enough to cities 

 and towns to be reached by considerable numbers of persons, serve 

 already the purposes of municipal recreation grounds and public 

 parks. To meet local needs along this line the department is cooperat- 

 ing with municipalities. It welcomes opportunities for cooperation 

 in this direction, just as it does in the protection of Forest watersheds 

 from which municipal water supplies are derived. These forms of 

 public service can be rendered without difficulty in connection with 

 the fulfillment of the general purposes of the Forests. 



NATIONAL FORESTS AND NATIONAL PARKS. 



The handling of the National Forest recreation resources inevi- 

 tably raises the question of the relation of the National Forests and 

 the National Parks. At present there is no clear distinction in the 

 public mind between the two. Both are administered for the benefit 

 of the public along lines which overlap. The Parks and Forests 

 occur side by side and have the same general physical character- 

 istics — extensive areas of wild and rugged lands, for the most part 

 timbered, with development conditioned upon road construction and 

 similar provisions for public use. They differ chiefly in the fact 

 that the attractions of the National Parks from the recreational 

 standpoint are more notable. Yet this is not always true. Several 

 of the Parks are inferior in their natural features to portions of the 

 72412°— age 1916 4 



