recreation 



Observations on recreation values 



Recreation uses of water in the United States 

 have historically occupied an inferior position in 

 practice and law relative to other uses. 



Where maintenance of recreation quality water 

 placed no significant burden on other water users, 

 recreation has customarily been considered an ap- 

 propriate use. If other uses degraded quality below 

 recreation quality, the recreation user has usually 

 been expected to seek alternative waters, a task 

 constantly rendered more difficult by rapidly ex- 

 panding urbanization and industrialization. 



In a number of Western States, recreation does 

 not appear in the roster of "beneficial uses" enu- 

 merated by statute. The recognition of recreation 

 as a benefit and a purpose of water resource de- 

 velopment is a matter of recent history for such 

 Federal agencies as the Corps of Engineers, the 

 Bureau of Reclamation, and the Soil Conservation 

 Service. 



The reasons for these priorities in the uses of 

 water are found in the transition from an agrarian 

 to an industrial and urban society. Now the Nation 

 faces a new order of social problems including, for 

 the first time in history, a serious concern for the 

 creative uses of the increasing amounts of leisure 

 available to our people. Today there is a growing 

 realization that recreation is a full partner in water 

 use; one that, with associated services, represents 

 a multimillion dollar industry with substantial 

 prospects for future growth as well as an important 

 source of psychic and physical relaxation. 



Outdoor recreation is a preferred form of leisure 

 activity for increasing millions of Americans; 

 water and shorelines serve as a focal point for 

 many preferred forms of outdoor recreation. Quan- 

 tity, location, and accessibility as well as quality 

 of water are prime factors in satisfying outdoor 

 recreation demands. These facts are set forth in 

 "Outdoor Recreation for America," the 1962 re- 

 port of the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review 

 Commission (ORRRC), and are confirmed by 

 subsequent surveys of outdoor recreation activities 

 and demands carried out by the Bureau of Out- 

 door Recreation (BOR), Department of the 

 Interior. 



One of the major findings and pervasive themes 

 of the ORRRC report was that most people seek- 

 ing outdoor recreation (90 percent of all Ameri- 

 cans) seek it associated with water — to sit by, 

 to walk alongside, to swim and to fish in, and to 

 boat on. 



Based on a 1960 survey, ORRRC found — for 

 example — that swimming was second among out- 

 door recreation activities and was likely to be 



