A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 469 



ground for a type of satisfaction which could be enjoyed with no 

 essential dimunition in any open-air environment. The urge to go 

 somewhere and the desire for amusement and a change from everyday 

 life are the vital concerns with this particular type of recreationist. 



Millions of people go to the forest for the preservation, restoration, 

 or stimulation of their health. The therapeutic value of forests has 

 long been recognized in selecting sites for sanitoria. More recently 

 it has come to be realized that healthy people may be immensely 

 benefited by the pure air, the wholesome exercise, and the relaxation 

 which are such important attributes of forest recreation. 



There are many people whose primary concern in the forest is the 

 pursuit of beauty. The joy which such people derive from a sunset 

 across some forest lake, from the unfathomable immensity of the 

 panorama off some wilderness summit, from the unmarred splendor 

 of a virgin forest, is not essentially different from what another 

 esthete might derive from the paintings of Rembrandt, from the 

 sulpture of Rodin, from the music of Beethoven, from the drama of 

 Shakespeare, or from the poetry of Keats. In spite of the analogy 

 with these artistic forms of beauty, the forest has unique values which 

 make it a most distinctive source of esthetic pleasure. 



Closely allied with the pursuit of the beautiful is the desire for 

 communion with nature. For many people there is a significance, as 

 vital and as satisfying as that which any communicant ever derives 

 from feeling his spirit one with God, in feeling themselves to be one 

 with nature, in cutting all bonds of habit and drifting into the time- 

 less continuity of the primeval. 



The primeval environment often proves exceptionally inspiring 

 and exceptionally favorable to contemplation. Many of our greatest 

 American thinkers men of the caliber of Thomas Jefferson, Henry 

 Thoreau, Mark Twain, William James, and John Muir have found 

 the forest an effective stimulus to original thought. John C. Merriam 

 has well remarked : 7 



The man or woman who goes to Grand Canyon or Yellowstone or Yosemite 

 for a week's vacation is cut off, for the moment, from the business of making a 

 living. Nearly all of the small cares that make up a good part of our ordinary 

 living are also left behind. Under such conditions the mental and spiritual 

 processes turn not only toward appreciation of nature but toward enjoyment of 

 intellectual life. Frequently at such times consideration is given to the greatest 

 of our problems. The most intimate and deepest spiritual experiences may 

 develop and great decisions be made. 



Some visitors to the forest are primarily interested in its scientific 

 aspects. They want to study the forest, to learn the fundamental 

 reasons for its development, to appreciate the causes of the functioning 

 of its myriad component parts. To them the forest is a laboratory, 

 unbounded by the conventional four walls, floor, and ceiling of the 

 usual research center but fully as significant in the development of a 

 knowledge of the laws of nature. 



The tradition of the pioneers is inculcated into most American 

 children even before they start their schooling. All through their 

 formative years they read about the glorious adventures of the Amer- 

 ican frontiersmen, and often they relive in games and imagination 

 the stirring pioneer days. Many of them grow up to long for some 

 real adventure and become sick and tired of getting their thrills in 



* Educational Values of Recreation, Educational Record, October 1932. 



