262 FOREST OUTINGS 



here to contend that forest recreation is indispensable for all that great bulk 

 of our population, nearly half, who have less than $1,000 a year. Multitudes 

 of people have lived and died without ever getting near the forests. But it 

 is suggested that if, by either public or private arrangements, ways could 

 be found to diminish personal costs so that our very poorest people may have 

 forest vacations, or outings, this might be sound social policy. Cost cutting 

 may be accomplished in a number of ways: (1) By a reduction in public- 

 transportation rates; (2) by the establishment of forest camps or parks 

 nearer great centers of population; and (3) by an increase in the number of 

 privately supported organization camps. 



ACQUISITION by the Government of certain lands now held in private owner- 

 ship may tend in time to meet greater needs of accessible outdoor recrea- 

 tion for people of small means. Sometimes only a small obstructing tract 

 need be acquired in order to throw open fully to the public a much greater 

 area. Again, units of land large enough to provide something more than 

 city-park diversions may be taken over and thrown open, fairly near large 

 centers of population. 



For example, in Big Cottonwood, Little Cottonwood, and Mill Creek 

 canyons on the Wasatch National Forest, only 1 to 20 miles from Salt Lake 

 City, enlargement of the existing forest camp and picnic grounds is not at 

 present possible because from 60 to 95 per cent of all sites suitable for such 

 use are privately owned. Acquisition here would give needed outings to addi- 

 tional thousands at the cost of only a gallon or two of gas. 



A like situation prevails in other national forests. On the Angeles and 

 Los Padres National Forests near Los Angeles, the bulk of the available flat- 

 land suitable for overnight camp and 1 -day picnic sites is in private ownership 

 and is held for use as lodges and summer homes. Likewise, in the Sacra- 

 mento Canyon, where a main highway passes through the heart of the 

 Shasta National Forest, it has been possible to develop only one campground 

 for public use because the Government owns no other usable land in the 

 canyon. So, again, in the Pike and Roosevelt National Forests near Denver, 

 Colo., the Government at present owns almost no bottom land in the canyons 

 most suitable for picnicking and camping, and nearest town. 



