220 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



its staff, must be far undermanned to handle the land- 

 scape problems which are certain to exist in the parks. 

 This need of trained men must have recognition in all 

 of the outdoor recreational fields if the best is to come out 

 of our efforts. It is better to remain passive than to 

 strike blindly into development without adequate plan- 

 ning and proper direction. 



With plans established there arises the question of cost 

 of machinery built and installed according to plans. But 

 those plans must be made prior to building for if they are 

 not there will soon develop the heterogeneous, unskill- 

 fuUy managed mixup which is illustrated in the example 

 of the cotton mill. If good plans are not made for the 

 recreation factory in the forests there will be a relatively 

 greater loss of invested money than in the case of the cot- 

 ton mill. When someone competent got on the job in the 

 latter case the machines could be moved to their proper 

 bases in short order. In improperly developed forest 



])lans the machines for rec- 

 reation production are built 

 to the grovmd and cannot 

 be moved in many cases 

 without complete wrecking. 

 Then the ground where they 

 were first and improperly 

 built is often unfit for the 

 use which it should have 

 primarily been planned for. 

 But suppose that there is 

 a time near when there is an 

 adequate number of trained 

 landscape men handling the 

 recreational planning and 

 development in our forested 

 areas. This must come. 

 Then plans will be made to 



fit the country and produce 



The fireplace in front is equipped to serve as a cooking arrange- ^ j a *,,.,i 



ment and as a place to build a fire to heat the lean-to. While great and good recreational 

 get on the base for the aux- such shelters are far too small and are not suited to this type of values. What is the cost of 



forest recreation plant stands partially idle, the recreation 

 fabric which is produced being a result of "spinning 

 wheel age" methods. 



In an earlier article the minimum needs for protection 

 in forest camps was outlined. It is the purpose of this 

 article to point out the lack in our Forests of real recre- 

 ation producing machinery. For the Forests stand today 

 as partially empty factory buildings ready to produce an 

 excellent quality of recreation in large quantities at a 

 minimum of operative costs if the machinery is in- 

 stalled. 



Taking stock of what should be present to start the 

 genuine production of recreation we find that the first 

 real need is men to handle the work. Landscape archi- 

 tects to plan the recreation machinery are as necessary 

 in the scheme of recreational development in the forests 

 as engineers to plan and construct roads, lawyers to 

 handle the problems of law, mineral examiners to in- 

 vestigate claims and forest- 

 ers to supervise proper cut- 

 ting and planting. No one 

 would go into the business 

 of producing clothing on a 

 large scale without a prac- 

 tical and experienced, well- 

 trained master tailor. The 

 recreation business is better 

 left alone than to have some 

 half-way, ill-planned devel- 

 opment going on under the 

 direction of men not quali- 

 fied as recreation engineers 

 In the factory, under im- 

 proper guidance, the stamp 

 machine may be wrongly 

 fastened on a base de- 

 signed for the spindle ma- 

 chine, the winding machine 



A CLOSE-UP OP A CAMP SHELTER 



iliarv motor and the motor 



use they are better than none, often serving most satisfactorily 



as emergency shelters, 

 get where the carding ma- 

 chine was supposed to go. Similar untrained manage- 

 ment in planning the forests for recreational use will 

 ])lace a hotel on a site which is best suited to camping, 

 a summer home on the logical place for a hospital, a 

 school on a location which should be used for a store and 

 allow a homesiter to monopolize the only spring within 

 miles which should supply the home site last of all being 

 more valuable for public use than for any other purpose. 

 So before we get into actual development in the for- 

 ests there is need of a corps of trained men, as well or- 

 ganized as those planning for and directing other forest 

 uses. This corps will make plans for proper development 

 in this giant field of outdoor play. The U. S. Forest 

 Service has not such a corps at the present time, although 

 it has men trained in other lines handling their spe- 

 lialties. Some few states have landscape architects on 

 rem aticiiial work as consultants and the National Park 

 >ervii-e. altlidugh possessing one landsca])e architect on 



the machinery? 



In the former article on 

 minimum protective standards the camp fireplace was 

 mentioned as the most potent factor in fire protection on 

 a campground. It was justified on that one basis alone. 

 But it affords recreational use which also would justify 

 its construction if this were its only reason for being 

 built. 



The fireplace described has cost in the neighborhood 

 of six dollars. It can now be built for less. The cost is 

 low when production value is considered. The demand 

 for these simple recreation producing machines was so 

 great on one western campground that younger members 

 of a family were often sent to camp Saturday night to 

 sleep beside a fireplace so it would be reserved for the 

 rest of the party the next day. 



If it is worth six cents every time it is used a fireplace 

 would need only one party using it once a day through 

 one season to pay for its cost on the recreation produc- 

 tion basis. However, it is probable that such a fireplace 



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