FORESTS AND RECREATION 



By Warren H. Miller, Editor Field and Stream 



AT LEAST once a year, even to the 

 / \ most cultured of us, there comes 

 / \ that primitive appeal, the call of 

 the Red Gods, and we long to 

 get away from the worry of civilization 

 and plunge into the wilderness, alone, 

 or with that treasured possession, a real 

 friend. 



The mountained forests stretch end- 

 lessly before our eyes; the oaks and 

 maples and hickories clothing the hard- 

 wood ridges; the pines, the balsams and 

 the hemlocks filling the rocky ravines 

 and lining the water-courses. Here a 

 lake, looking up to the sky in spotless 

 azure; there a tiny pond, girt with dead 

 timber ; yon a tangled marsh grown over 

 with dense thickets of alder, briar and 

 gum. Within the green depths the 

 wild creatures, these children of Nature, 

 go about their life work; the shy deer 

 nibbling the green grasses in the hollows ; 

 the lordly elk feeding in the mountain 

 meadows; the predacious creatures 

 wolf, lynx and mountain lion watching 

 the trails and runways; the mink, otter 

 and weasel following the water-courses; 

 the wild turkeys and ruffed grouse 

 scratching acorns and weed seeds on 

 the hardwood ridges; while over it all 



the song and movement of the smaller 

 bird life attracts the eye. A dimple on 

 the placid surface of the lake speaks of 

 the rise of a large trout, while a sudden 

 splash and the interrupted croak of a 

 frog tells of the swift strike of the black 

 bass at his prey on the lily pads. 



Nature is kind, and abundant, and 

 lavish in her hospitality to the forest 

 man who really knows her, to whom her 

 trees are not just trees but oaks, maples, 

 balsams, hemlocks, each having their 

 own particular uses and virtues in her 

 scheme of existence; to whom her 

 plants and rocks are known by name; 

 to whom her birds and animals are 

 brethren of the wild whose habits and 

 customs are familiar; her fishes and 

 reptiles a matter of everyday knowledge. 

 Such a man, possessed of the skill and 

 knowledge which fits him to take his 

 niche in the life of the forest, has the 

 cornucopia of plenty showered upon 

 him; his burden of life is light; he has 

 ample time to develop those nobler 

 qualities of the soul too often grown up 

 with tares in the worry and fret of 

 civilian existence. For, out of the 

 wilderness have come the great truths 

 that are the foundations of right living; 



Bass Fishing in a Mountain Lake, 

 were it not for the well forested hills and mountains there would be none of this bass fishing and no 



attractions at these lakes for the recreationist. 



543 



