SHADE TREES AND FORESTS 493 



It is estimated that during the summer of 1917, 3,000,000 

 persons entered the national forests for some kind of recre- 

 ation. The chief kinds of recreation are fishing, camping, 

 hiking, packing, automobiling, and picnicking. Hundreds 

 of miles of trails have been built for hikers and pack ani- 

 mals, and many miles of roadway for automobiles and 

 wagons. To meet the needs of the tourists, the Forest 

 Service has laid out and equipped a large number of camps 

 along these trails. 



COMMUNITY PROJECT 7 



Purpose. To learn the value of your city parks. 



Directions. I. Visit a park and make a list of the trees, 

 shrubs, vines, and flowers growing there. 



2. Find information regarding your city parks, on the follow- 

 ing points : number and area, money spent each year on them, 

 care given to them, improvements made, uses made of the parks, 

 number of people using them. 



National forests. Realizing the importance of conserving 

 our forests, the national government began, during the ad- 

 ministration of President Harrison, to set aside from the 

 lands which it owned certain areas to be kept as national 

 forests. Since that time, others have been added, till "to- 

 day there are 151 national forests, comprising an area of 

 156,000,000 acres, or about one fifth of the forests in the 

 United States. These are located chiefly in the western 

 states, although national forests have recently been set aside 

 in the White Mountains and in the Appalachian Mountains. 

 These forests generally constitute lands which are not 

 adapted for purposes of agriculture and can serve their best 

 purpose by being allowed to remain in forests. 



It is the intention of the government to make the forests 

 of the greatest use to all concerned. The forests are managed 

 in such a way as to insure their permanency and only the 



