AOHICt'LTlKAL AI'IMIOIMIIATIO.N Hll.l,, ItrlJ. 



217 



■ nj^ress nassiMl a ^I'lirial cxcImiiij;*' law. whirh aiilliori/.cd l\\v Serro- 



rii's of llio two «I«'|)artiiu'iits, Aijriniliiirr and IiittTior. to oxrliaiiKc 



tioiuil ft>rc'st lands and liinluT or national forr>t IumImt al«inr for an 



|iii\al<-nt value of privaU'ly owned land within tite l>oundari(>H of 



the national forests. Over J.'). ()()(). (K»0 acres of private land within the 



i\teri«>r Ixnmdaries t>f the nalioiukl forests an* availidile for ex«'hanj»e 



iiiuier that law. as>iiniin^ the e\rhani;e to he de.sirahle. We are 



• levelopiiii^ that work very slowly heeaiise we do not wish to start any 



a«;«:erated ideas on the part of owners of tinjher lands in the national 



rests (hat these e\chaM;^es are jroin«; to In- made hastilv or solely 



•r the piuj)«)se of enahlin^ a Unuher company t<) consolidute its 



lioldinjjs. Furthermon". we are insistinj^ on ostahlishinf; a very 



iiservalive hasis of valuation. IJut the exchanj^e work is almost 



itnin to <;row to hir<;(> proportions atid necessitate iiureascil future 



;>proj)riations uiuler this item. For the foiiiitii: \Tiir we can Inindle 



e work wo have with this fund. 



W 



• N>rKr( llON ()!• SAMTAK'^ lAlILlTIKS AM) lOK HHK-l'UKVKNTl VK 

 •MKASl KKS ON I'l HI.K ( A.Ml' (iKOlNDS. 



In the item on pa<;e lot) for sanitarv facilities and fire-preventive 

 measures on puhlic camp <:rouiids an increase of .?.").()()() is proposed. 

 This money is spent exclusively in const ructin<; latrines, garhafie pits, 

 land simple water-supply facilities ajid for cleaninj; up inflammahle 

 jd^'hris on the nvciis m tlu' national htrests whicii are used hy lar»;e 

 I iiumhers of j)eople for canipin};. Tlie appropriation tiiat the com- 

 mittee gave us last year of SlO.tiOO to initiate this work was a god- 

 i,send and cnahled us to take care of some situations which had 

 hec(»me not only a menace to puhlic health hut a serious aflront t<» 

 ':puhlic decency. The ann)unt of such work needed is dilllcult to 

 I ■>tiiiuitc exactly. We have, according to tiie reports of the district 

 foresters, hetween 900 and 1,000 camp grounds which are used so 

 .generally that it is necessary to install lire-protection facilities and 

 jisanitary con\ eniences. Wherever possihle we are making co(»pera- 

 jjtive arrangements with local communities, chamhers of commen-e. 

 Jancl local associations of one kind and another that are interested in 

 Jjthe use of these areas fov camping, under wiiich they assume the 

 cost of constructing the toilets ajid other facilities neeiled. We are 

 'cttiiig a considerahle numher trf areas provided for in that way. 

 There remains a large nund)er on which there apparently is no way 

 to giv(> the puhlic health reasonahle j)rotection and at the same time 

 avoid tjie danger of a serious (ire hazard without tiie work heijig 

 done hy the Forest Service itself. The cost of what we do on the 

 average camp ground amounts to S\'M) or S140, which limits im[)rove- 

 ments Iv the construction of usually two or three very simple pit 

 l„j toilets, a garhage pit of some kind, cleaning up inllammahle dehns, 

 d throwing up a few rough stone fireplaces to confine the camp 

 es and reduce the hazard of their escaping. 



The increiise of So, 000 will eiiahle us to take care »>f a few more 

 .these intensively used camp grounds and is very greatly neeiled. 



