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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



MOUNT HOOD IN THE OREGON NATIONAL FOREST 



This is one of the most beautiful of our western mountains. The Forest Service is building scenic roads and trails and improving camp 

 grounds for visitors. Thousands of seekers of out-door recreation visit this wonderful region every year. 



the like. The benefits from such facilities in increased 

 health, in mental stimulus, and in contentment and hap- 

 piness can not be measured. The problem is absolutely 

 basic to the social well being of our nation. 



The new recreation movement reaches beyond the 

 immediate problem of the city parks and playgrounds. 

 It seeks to draw people to the country, to the fields, the 

 forests, the lakes, and the mountains. It aims to afford 

 opportunities not only for the well-to-do who can afford 

 a long trip by rail or motor to an attractive resort, but 

 also and especially for those of less means to have the 

 refreshment that comes from days spent in natural wood- 

 lands and the open country. 



Recreation has an important place in the new move- 

 ment to enlarge the system of federal and state forest 

 reservations and parks and to acquire woodland parks 

 for municipalities. While the occasion for such reser- 

 vations is frequently the protection of watersheds, timber 

 production, or other public benefits, all of the areas 

 afford opportunities for outdoor recreation. Equally 

 true it is that recreation has an important place in 

 the demand for a large program of road improvement 

 and extension. 



The federal Government has an important part to play 

 in the movement for outdoor recreation. This is in part 

 because the Nation owns large areas of forest and moun- 

 tain land ; in part also because many other federal activi- 



ties contribute directly or indirectly to recreation. The 

 work of the Government naturally centers in the public 

 properties, the National Parks, National Forests, National 

 Monuments, and wild life reservations, which include the 

 National Game Preserves and Bird Reservations. In 

 addition, the work of the Biological Survey in wild life 

 conservation and of the Bureau of Fisheries in main- 

 taining the stock of our streams are powerful factors in 

 drawing people to the forest and field. The great work 

 of road building under the direction of the Bureau of 

 Public Roads is opening recreation areas heretofore inac- 

 cessible, developing highways that in themselves are 

 objectives of the traveler, and creating by example and 

 education an appreciation of the beautification of high- 

 ways by planting and of the preservation of scenic values 

 on and near the roads. The educational work in forestry 

 by the Forest Service, in park development by the Park 

 Service, in improvements of public grounds and planting 

 about the home by the Bureau of Plant Industry, all 

 serve to stimulate an interest in the out-of-doors, and aid 

 in forwarding the great purpose of public health, con- 

 tentment, and national efficiency that are back of the out- 

 door recreation movement. 



A broad federal policy of recreation should include 

 all of the permanent reservations, each performing a 

 definite function in a comprehensive program. It 

 should include also the various other activities, for 



