468 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



seashore dwellings. But the substitutability noted in forest recrea- 

 tion applies equally to any other resource. The taxable wealth re- 

 sulting from the commodity use of the forest also would be greatly 

 reduced if all the possible commodity substitutions were effected. 



(4) The American Automobile Association estimates that almost 

 $4,000,000,000 was spent in motor camping and vacation motor travel 

 in the United States during the year 1929. It does not seem un- 

 reasonable to assume that one quarter of the vacation motor travel is 

 through forested country, and this would mean that annual forest 

 vacation motor expenditures amount to about $1,000,000,000. 



The Special Senate Committee on Conservation of Wild-life 

 Resources 6 calculates that in 1929 hunters and fishermen spent 

 $650,000,000 in addition to transportation expenses. It would be 

 conservative to estimate that at least three quarters of this enormous 

 sum was spent on forest hunting or fishing, which would mean that 

 this form of forest recreation accounts for an annual outlay of approxi- 

 mately half a billion dollars. 



No national figures are available for the amount of money spent 

 each year on summer homes, hotel, and resort accomodations (other 

 than those paid for by automobile tourists), hiking equipment, or the 

 outfits required for wilderness journeys. These expenditures would 

 unquestionably run half as high as those for hunting and fishing. 

 Consequently the following would seem to be a reasonable, although 

 admittedly a very rough, estimate of the amount of money spent on 

 forest recreation during the peak recreation year of 1929 : 



Forest vacation motor travel $1,000,000,000 



Hunting and fishing 500, 000, 000 



Summer homes, resorts, hiking, wilderness j ourneys 250, 000, 000 



Total 1, 750, 000, 000 



Although huge sums of money are involved on any basis of calcula- 

 tion, the most important values of forest recreation are not suscept- 

 ible of measurement in monetary terms. They are concerned with 

 such intangible considerations as inspiration, esthetic enjoyment, and 

 a gain in understanding. It is no more valid to rate them in terms of 

 dollars and cents than it would be to rate the worth of a telephone 

 pole in terms of the inspiration it gives. The only common denomi- 

 nator for the recreational and commodity value of the forest is the 

 human happiness which may be derived from each use. Unfort- 

 unately no quantitative measure of human happiness has ever been 

 designed, and consequently it is impossible to describe accurately 

 the contribution which forest recreation makes toward the welfare 

 of mankind. About all one can do is to point out the purposes for 

 which men seek the forest and let each reader make his own evaluation 

 of their intrinsic importance. 



PURPOSES 



Perhaps the most frequent purpose of those seeking forest recreation 

 is simply to have a good time in the outdoors. The majority of 

 vacation motorists enjoy what features of the forest they can observe 

 at a velocity of 40 miles an hour, but never really transfer their lives 

 from the highway to the forest. The woods are only a pleasant back- 



6 Wild Life Conservation, S.Rept. 1329, 71st Cong., 3d sess., 1931. 



