A CRISIS IN NATIONAL RECREATION 



BY HENRY S. GRAVES 



WIDESPREAD anxiety has been caused by the 

 acute situation confronting the Government in its 

 administration of the National Parks and other 

 reservations which afford opportunities for recreation. 

 The National Parks are threatened by proposals that 

 would commercialize their natural resources. Already 

 there are bills in Congress, well advanced toward passage, 

 which would establish the precedent of industrial use 

 of various re- 

 sources in the 

 Parks. There is no 

 clear-cut policy re- 

 garding the relative 

 functions of Na- 

 tional Parks and 

 National Forests, 

 with the result that 

 large transfers of 

 land from the For- 

 ests to the Parks 

 are advocated along 

 lines that would 

 jeopardize the 

 whole system of 

 National forestry. 

 Conflicts have 

 arisen as between 

 the industrial and 

 the recreation use 

 of certain public 

 properties. There 

 is uncertainty re- 

 garding the real 

 place of recreation 

 in plans for road 

 and trail develop- 

 ment. The many 

 federal activities in 

 recreation are not 

 adequately corre- 

 lated. Friends of 

 the recreation 

 move 



A GLIMPSE OF GLACIER NATIONAL PARK 



m a t rhr> O ur National Parks comprise some of the grandest mountain scenery in the world 

 III c II I WHO are d e di ca ted to the use and enjoyment of all the people of the nation. Our l 



should enable the Government, through its activities on 

 the public properties and its co-operative and educational 

 work outside, to take the leadership in forwarding the 

 movement for outdoor recreation throughout the country. 

 Within the last few years there has been a wide- 

 spread and spontaneous movement for outdoor recrea- 

 tion. Thousands who formerly spent their vacation days 

 abroad or at some nearby resort are traveling long dis- 

 tances by rail or 

 motor to visit the 

 mountains, lakes, 

 and forests of our 

 own country. 



In part this 

 movement is ex- 

 plained by the bet- 

 terment of roads, 

 the wide ownership 

 of automobiles, the 

 diversion of travel 

 from Europe by 

 the circumstances 

 of the war, the ad- 

 vertising of our 

 recreation oppor- 

 tunities, and by the 

 prevailing pros- 

 perity. A deeper 

 cause is the exist- 

 ence of a new ap- 

 preciation of out- 

 door recreation, a 

 new impulse to 

 seek the wholesome 

 environment of the 

 hills and forests 

 and to refresh 

 mind and body 

 through the vigors 

 of mountain and 

 camp life. 



This movement 

 is of great impor- 



These areas 

 country should 



\nnlc rr> tViA ffHoral not permit any encroachment upon them by private interests for the exploitation of natural rqnrp rn thp nnVilic 

 100K tO tne teaeral resoU r C es. They should be kept intact in their primeval splendor. tance tO me pUDUC, 



govern ment for 

 leadership and support of State and local effort are 

 handicapped by the confusion of policies of the federal 

 bureaus and deeply disturbed by the dangers to the 

 National Parks created by the present legislative and 

 administrative tendencies toward their commercialization. 

 It is only by the adoption of a sound national recrea- 

 tion policy that the public interests can be safeguarded. 

 Such a policy should protect the integrity of the National 

 Parks, should recognize the recreation functions of the 

 National Forests and other permanent reservations, and 



both because of the 

 benefits to the people that come from outdoor recreation 

 and because there must be a large participation by the 

 public itself to provide facilities that can be enjoyed by 

 all. That the opportunity for relaxation, exercise, and 

 play out of doors means a factor in public health and 

 in meeting social problems is well recognized in our 

 larger cities and industrial centers. Millions of dollars 

 are being expended on municipal parks, interior squares 

 and breathing spaces, out-of-door playgrounds, public 

 golf links, tennis courts, ball fields, bathing beaches, and 



391 



