210 PARKS 



and equipped with one or more outdoor ovens or fireplaces, one or more 

 shelters, preferably of a rustic design, tables and benches, water supply and 

 toilet facilities. In the construction of ovens, care should be taken to use a 

 design that is not too large. Except at picnic places intended for the accom- 

 modation of large crowds as one party, large ovens or fireplaces are never 

 necessary. Any practiced picnicker or camper knows that it does not require 

 a great deal of fuel or a large fire to cook an ordinary meal, and for heating 

 coffee or warming up food, or doing a small amount of cooking, a very small 

 fire is all that is needed. In some reservations ovens have been installed 

 which, because of their large size, if kept supplied with fuel, would prac- 

 tically deforest the area within a few years. 



2. Camping. There are three types of camps which may be provided 

 for in large reservations tourist camps, organized camps and family or 

 small group camps. The facilities at tourist camps may consist of nothing 

 more than the facilities provided for an ordinary picnic ground, but in the 

 more elaborate tourist camps a shelter in the form of a small community 

 house, bath and wash house and possibly a common dining shelter may be 

 provided. The camps are liable to become very great nuisances unless 

 operated under fairly strict rules and under the constant supervision of the 

 managing authority of the reservation. If the management is not prepared 

 to equip and properly supervise this type of camp, it is better not to include 

 it as a feature of the reservation service. 



The organized camp for boys and girls and even for adults is one of 

 the finest recreational uses to which the large reservation can be put. (For 

 a discussion of the layout of organized camps, see the section of this chapter 

 on organized camps, page 167. For a discussion of the sanitary facilities 

 that may be provided, see Chapter XVI, "Park Sanitation. " For a very detailed 

 presentation of the entire subject of organized camping, see "Camping Out 

 A Manual on Organized Camping," Macmillan, New York City, 1924.) 

 Those who are interested in the financing of organized camps as a part of 

 reservation service can secure most valuable information from the manage- 

 ment of the Palisades Interstate Park (Major William A. Welch, lona, 

 New York). 



The admission of family or small group camps into reservations should 

 be considered with very great care. While this type of camping is prac- 

 ticed with apparently much success in Federal forest reservations, in some 

 state forest reservations, and in a few municipal reservations, the with- 

 drawal, under a system of rentals or leases, of even small portions of reserva- 

 tions for practically private use, on the whole makes this form of camping 

 undesirable in large reservations. Added reasons for this lie in the super- 

 visory problems involved and the tendency to a feeling of proprietary 



