The People's Property 



one that should be given the proper 

 share of attention. In the West, this in- 

 volves principally good management of 

 game populations already existing; in 

 the South, it is a matter of building up 

 the resource. 



Unfortunately, in many places in the 

 West and in the national forests in the 

 Lake States, populations of deer and 

 elk have outgrown their food supplies, 

 and the first job is to reduce the num- 

 bers to the carrying capacity of the 

 range. Progress is being made as under- 

 standing grows that wildlife must be 

 managed much like any other crop. 



THE PRIMARY INTEREST of many mil- 

 lions of people in the national forests is 

 related to opportunities for recreation. 



So, more than 4,500 camps and pic- 

 nic areas have been provided. Many 

 places have been developed for swim- 

 ming and boating. About 240 win- 

 ter-sports areas have been fitted up. 

 Resorts to accommodate transient vis- 

 itors are permitted in many places. 

 Organization camps to facilitate low- 

 cost vacations are featured. About 12,- 

 000 summer homes are under permit. 



FOREST WILDERNESSES are an im- 

 portant and unique feature of many 

 national forests. Their purpose is to 

 preserve wild land in its primitive con- 

 dition, without roads or other man- 

 made installations not absolutely essen- 

 tial to their protection. 



The 77 wilderness areas range in size 

 from 1,800,000 to 5,000 acres. Alto- 

 gether they cover about 14 million 

 acres. In them one can go afoot or on 

 horseback, get far away from the usual 

 evidences of civilization, and see coun- 

 try as it was when the white man came. 



Interest in preserving the integrity 

 of these wilderness areas has grown 

 amazingly. For example: In 1940 a 

 hearing was held on a proposal to make 

 a reservoir (for irrigation) out of Lake 

 Solitude in the Big Horn Mountains in 

 Wyoming. Few seemed to care that 

 the proposed reservoir would destroy 

 the beauty of Lake Solitude. The plan 

 was deferred because of the war, but 



303 



was brought up again at another hear- 

 ing in 1948. Then the preponderance 

 of expressed sentiment favored leaving 

 Lake Solitude in its primitive state as 

 one of the outstanding features of the 

 wilderness area. 



THE MISCELLANEOUS USES of the 

 forests make an almost endless list. 

 There are apiaries and fox farms ; arti- 

 ficial fish ponds, where trout are raised 

 for market; cabins for skiing clubs; 

 mineral springs for the ailing; trappers' 

 cabins; and branding corrals and 

 counting pens used by the stockmen. 

 Altogether, nearly 100 different sorts 

 of uses are under permit a total of 

 44,000 permits that cover more than 

 2 million acres and bring in around 

 $700,000 each year to the Treasury. 



APPROPRIATIONS for the purchase of 

 land for national forests have been 

 made almost every year since the en- 

 actment of the Weeks Law in 1911. 

 Congress enacted a general forest-ex- 

 change law, under which the Forest 

 Service may acquire forest land within 

 the forest boundaries by exchanging 

 for it other national forest land or 

 national forest timber. 



A number of other bills authorize the 

 use of part of the receipts from the 

 national forests to acquire land within 

 the boundaries. This type of legislation, 

 as with the forest-exchange acts, is 

 based on a desire to consolidate in pub- 

 lic ownership most of the privately 

 owned land within the national forest 

 boundaries. To further the acquisition 

 of such land, some counties forego 

 their share of the so-called 25-percent 

 fund from the part of the receipts that 

 is used to buy the land. Some com- 

 munities in Utah have established and 

 financed a special organization to buy 

 certain private lands on their water- 

 sheds and turn them over for adminis- 

 tration as part of the national forests. 



The principal purpose of acquisition 

 by these various means is to place in 

 Government ownership that is, own- 

 ership by all citizens the forest lands 

 in or near the national forests that will 



