110 FOREST OUTINGS 



Many people who discover the free camp sites incline to stake claim to 

 them, in the traditional American manner. They tend to squat on or 

 occupy campgrounds for unreasonably long periods. The Forest Service 

 has had to establish time limits on occupancy of camp spots at crowded 

 areas. But no set limits are enforced until pressure of demand requires it. 



The fuel problem becomes each year more troubling. Fuel wood soon 

 gets scarce around a much-used site. There are still forest areas where 

 dead limbs and sticks to supply camping requirements may be picked up 

 by the users. In others, the Forest Service follows the practice of dragging 

 in fuel logs for campers. It is usually possible to do this with the campground- 

 maintenance crews, without great expense. Snags and sound down ma- 

 terial are a nuisance and in places a fire hazard. Their removal for such 

 use is a sound measure of forest sanitation. 



QUESTIONS . . . But often it is hard to find the time or the help. And to 

 drag in a fuel log for chopping and then put the forest visitors out of mind, 

 so far as firewood goes, is not always practical. The ax is a tool with which 

 citizens of our elder and more urban parts, particularly, have lost acquaint- 

 ance. They make a fine, bold slash (the spirit of the woodsman still lives 

 in them) but naturally they are inept. It takes time to learn to chop wood 

 right. City people are likely to hack up their shins, and the cut may be 

 serious. This is especially true if the ax is chained to a tree with rather a 

 short tether. No one can really chop wood with a tethered ax. Even 

 amateurs soon learn to break the chain and some of them take the ax home 

 with them, as a souvenir, perhaps. The fuel question in forest camps is 

 really a problem. 



Where, for various reasons, no cut wood is provided; where camp sites 

 heavily used have led to a scarcity; or where free wood, freely cut and served, 

 has led only to excessive use and thievery, vandalism increases. Only 1 guest 

 of the forests in 10,000, perhaps, goes in for this sort of personal expression, 

 but the total damage, the country over, mounts up. For something to burn 

 in the fire, living trees on the site are hacked down, and tables and benches 

 and parts of shelters are chopped into firewood and burned. This seems to 

 happen most often on desert or semidesert camp sites. The policy here is to 



