FOREST RECREATION DEPARTMENT 



Arthur H. Carhart, Editor 



Minimum Requirements In Recreation 



"PVEATH and Destruction consort with Play in many of 

 '-^ our forest recreation areas. They invade Play's 

 realm only because preventative measures against them 

 are not taken. They should be naturally foreign to re- 

 creation grounds 

 but inevitably come 

 if the laws of sani- 

 tation and fire pre- 

 vention are disre- 

 garded. 



Do you walk in 

 the open ? Have 

 you auto-camped in 

 rural forest play 

 places ? Have you 

 picnicked under 

 leafy shade trees or 

 spicy pines and firs 

 where the outdoor 

 lure calls you to 

 come and linger ? 

 If you have I wan 

 to talk to you, or i i 

 you, or your 

 friends ever expect 

 to vacation in our 

 great forested 

 areas, this message 

 is for you. 



Consider the de- 

 struction wrought \ 

 Fire alone each year 

 destroys $17,150,- 

 000 worth of tim- 

 ber. Money ex- 

 pended in fighting 

 fixe in 1920 was 

 more than $1,000,- 

 000. Business year- 

 ly suffers to the ex- 

 tent of $400,000,- 

 000! 



Good business 

 and common sense 

 demand stoppage 

 of this waste. Fires 

 o r i g i n a t ing on 

 camping areas constitute a not large portion of the fire 

 loss ; every bit of prevention should be brought into play 

 to stop even this portion of the yearly fire toll. 



Another phase of this problem is the fact that a camp- 



GOOD CAMPERS 



The campers in this picture have built their o\yn fireplace in a good location. But 

 many who are not versed in outdoor usage will not do so. A built fireplace will 

 direct their firebuilding and perhaps prevent forest fires. 



ing spot once burned by fire is never again desirable re- 

 creation grounds. As camp spots are often in the most 

 pleasing locations this loss is many times larger than if 

 the same amount of land, not so used, were burned over. 



The timber loss 

 plus the aesthetic 

 loss in smoke when 

 a camp ground 

 burns is greater 

 than the price of 

 prevention. Have 

 we in the great 

 majority of cases 

 taken preventative 

 measures on these 

 areas? We have 

 not. 



The human life 

 loss is more ap- 

 palling. Every 

 year deaths occur 

 which might have 

 been prevented 

 with the most ele- 

 mental y sanitary 

 provisions. A very 

 simple spring de- 

 velopment costing 

 in the neighbor- 

 hood of twenty or 

 thirty dollars 

 might save several 

 lives. 



Doctors univer- 

 sally testify that 

 the typhoid rate 

 increases appre- 

 ciably when camp- 

 ing time comes 

 around. It is so 

 common a thing 

 that it is called 

 "vacation typhoid." 

 In the National 

 Forests of the 

 West the death 

 rate is probably 

 the highest. Here there are few sanitary installations. 

 No safe water supply is available at many camps and 

 people die from drinking out of open streams that ap- 

 pear crystal pure. 



