WHAT IS RECREATION'S NEXT STEP? 



595 



are many natural wonders such as caves, curious rocks 

 and unusual waterfalls which are of sufficient interest to 

 be preserved and protected so they may be capital stock 

 of the scenic wealth of the nation. Further, there is 

 but little of the great National Forest System which does 

 not lend itself to recreational use. And the best feature 

 of all in the case of the recreational use of forests is, 



THIS UNUSUAL BIT OF WHITE WATER COMES TUMBLING DOWN 

 WITHIN A QUARTER OF A MILE OF THE CABIN AT GREEN- 

 RIVER LAKE IN THE BRIDGER NATIONAL FOREST, WYOMING 



there is but slight interference with any of the older 

 established economic uses and the gain through the use 

 is almost pure profit. 



Here we have the two great capitular recreation 

 resources of the country. In the case of the parks they 

 are devoted to recreation alone. There is at the present 

 time an unfortunate move in some quarters to reap com- 

 mercial profit from the economic resources found within 

 these great national areas. This move is diametrically 

 opposed to the fundamental idea of the National Park 

 System. These should be kept from the inroads of com- 

 merce for there is little question but that the lss in 

 aesthetic qualities, the detriment to the parks, would far 

 overbalance any gain to the nation from commercial 

 exploitation and no individuals should be allowed to 

 injure the parks for private gain at the expense of the 

 public. The parks should be sanctuaries where nature 



will remain supreme and the only development that is 

 a rational one in these areas is a plan which follows good 

 landscape principles in presenting the beauties of the 

 park and that should be established only after a complete 

 and comprehensive scheme has been carefully worked 

 out by a competent artist. 



As opposed to the park idea the recreational use of 

 the National Forests is not paramount but coincident. 

 The economic uses progress without interference on the 

 part of recreation except in unusual cases. Actually this 

 added use to the ones established in the forests helps 

 the older ones in many ways. Roads built for recrea- 

 tion also serve in opening new timbered areas, reaching 

 isolated homesteads in the forests in allowing fire patrol 

 to reach hitherto remote fire hazards and in administra- 

 tion of the forests. The reverse is as true. Roads built 

 for any one of the economic uses serves too for recre- 

 ation. There will be no interference with economic 



GOOD PLANNING OF RECREATIONAL DEVELOPMENT WILL 

 UTILIZE ALL RECREATION VALUES SUCH AS ARE FOUND 

 AROUND THIS LITTLE LAKE IN THE COLORADO NATIONAL 

 FOREST WITHOUT LOSS OF ECONOMIC RESOURCES 



uses in the forests on the part of recreation except where 

 greed may attempt to destroy beauty and scenic wealth 

 which is of so much greater aesthetic value than com- 

 mercial value that the loss would be wholly unwarranted. 

 But the recreational use of these two great systems 

 follows almost identical fundamental principles. The 

 recreation found in the forest, that is just without the 

 boundary of a park, is of as great value as that found 

 across the imaginary line. But the forests are in the 

 Department of Agriculture and the parks are in the 



