56 REPORT OF SPECIAL FORESTRY COMMITTEE 



area there are a good many public summer resorts, 

 the main attraction of which has been the wildness 

 of the surroundings, with the attendant supply of 

 fish and game. This attraction has been growing 

 steadily less because of the extensive lumbering 

 operations and the accompanying forest fires. 



The establishment of the forest reserve has in- 

 sured the permanent attractiveness of this region 

 for public recreation purposes, and in time it will 

 even increase the beauty and desirability of the re- 

 gion and result in a largely increased summer resort 

 business. The money expended by tourists will go 

 to resort owners, stage drivers, guides, boat liveries, 

 dealers in food supplies, and to the railroads. 



There are already 91 public resorts in the forest 

 reserve region, with 639 buildings. These can ac- 

 commodate 4,372 guests at one time, and an in- 

 vestigation has shown that the number of guests 

 accommodated in a year is approximately 13,131 

 and the actual gross receipts in a year are $356,025. 

 The hotels in the small towns within the forest 

 reserve area, which get a large share of their busi- 

 ness from the summer tourists, together with the 

 livery stables and boat liveries, report a gross an- 

 nual, business of $59,057. It is probably safe to 

 estimate that 50% of this amount, or $29,537, is 

 paid by summer tourists. 



There are hundreds of lakes within the forest 

 reserve area, and when these and the forests are 

 protected, with consequent improvement in the hunt- 

 ing and fishing, the resort business should increase 

 to a very large figure. 



The people living in and near the forest reserve 

 should be most interested in this project, and if they 

 were fully advised as to the great benefit which will 

 inure therefrom both to themselves and the people 

 of Wisconsin, they would not hesitate to aid in the 

 furthering and advancement of the present forestry 

 work. We venture to say that in years to come 

 when this territory adapted to the growth of trees 

 has been carefully protected from fire and replanted 



