THE FOREST FOR RECREATION 



By ROBERT MARSHALL, Collaborator 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Volume and value of forest recreation 463 



The present volume 463 



The future volume 465 



The value 466 



Purposes 468 



Types of recreational forest areas 471 



Superlative areas 471 



Primeval areas 471 



Wilderness areas 473 



Roadside areas 476 



Camp-site areas 477 



Residence areas 478 



Outing areas 478 



The problems of forest recreation 479 



Use without destruction 479 



Preservation from natural enemies i 481 



Administration 482 



Forestry and recreation 484 



The area to be set aside for recreation 485 



VOLUME AND VALUE OF FOREST RECREATION 

 THE PRESENT VOLUME 



The use of the forests for recreation probably dates to the time when 

 some wandering savage, returning to his cave through the depths of 

 the primeval forest, may have noticed a beam of sunlight shining on 

 some darkened tree trunk and felt all at once without knowledge of the 

 reason a moment of great, surging joy in the chaotic passage of his life. 



Until very recently, the recreational enjoyment of the forest has 

 been chiefly of this incidental nature. Today, however, forest recre- 

 ation is no longer an unpremeditated matter. People do not, as a 

 rule, live in the forest any more, and if they go there to enjoy them- 

 selves they are fully conscious of their purpose. Consequently they 

 have come to realize that forest recreation has a definite value in their 

 lives, that it is something for which they are willing to sacrifice time 

 and money and so they desire to plan 'for the preservation of its 

 possibility. 



The word "recreation", as it is used in this report, means anything 

 that is done directly for the pleasure or enrichment which it brings to 

 life, in contrast with things that are done primarily to obtain the 

 necessities of life. The diverse purposes of forest recreation and the 

 many different forms which it assumes will be discussed later. 



Table 1 shows in round numbers the best available statistics on the 

 use of American forest lands for recreation during the year 1931. 

 These figures are valuable not as giving a precise measure but for the 

 general impression which they convey of the tremendous volume which 

 recreational forest use has already attained in America. 



463 



