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VI. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 
Participation in outdoor recreation has expanded rapidly in the 
United States in recent times and is expected to continue to do so in 
the foreseeable future. As projections of future recreation demand are 
related to changes in population, leisure time, income, and education, 
all of which are expected to increase significantly, even the more 
conservative estimates predict very large increases in future recreation 
demand. 
Satisfying this demand and preserving the quality of our natural 
resources and open spaces at the same time is indeed a challenging 
problem. It will require large expenditures for new facilities and better 
management of the existing ones. Moreover, a number of practices 
that have been carried over from earlier years will need to be re- 
evaluated in the light of present and future demand to insure they are 
consistent with national goals. 
One practice that deserves serious consideration is that of charging 
user fees for public recreation area. This has been done on only a very 
limited basis in the past, while somewhat more extensively recently. 
Revenues collected from this source cover only a small fraction of 
actual costs, however, and there would seem to be a large incentive 
to bring costs and revenues more into line. Such an action would have 
several beneficial effects. It would serve as a rationing device, a source 
of revenue, and to eliminate the degree of unfairness that presently 
exists. The present system is unfair in the sense that some persons are 
able to use resources at less than full value, while others cannot be 
equally accommodated. 
It should be remembered, however, that public recreation is not a 
completely private good, and as such it has a number of collective 
aspects and externalities that must be taken into account with any 
system of user charges. Recognizing this, present charges and revenues 
are still much too low for the effective operation of the park system 
and should be raised. 
