the National Forests 29 



In any study of public recreation on the National Forests one 



can not go very far without facing problems which lead beyond 



the confines of the Forest Service. Especially 

 Extra-depart- ., ,. u . U1 . 



. , r . must consideration be given to possible mter- 



mental As- , . . . , ° . , „ . ' . 



, relations with the National Park Service, 



pects 



a separate branch of the Federal organization 



designed specifically to care for the larger enterprises of recrea- 

 tion on public lands dedicated to such use. It has been sug- 

 gested that the existence of a National Park Service made it 

 unnecessary and unwise for the Forest Service to concern itself 

 at all with such matters. 



As soon as any attempt is made to bring such theoretical sug- 

 gestions down to a practical working basis they take form in one 

 or the other of the following schemes: Either to turn over to the 

 Park Service all recreational activities wherever located, or to 

 transfer all recreation areas bodily from the National Forests 

 to the National Parks. These two schemes are equally impossible, 

 but on account of their frequent reappearance their unworkable- 

 ness should be briefly exhibited. 



The former plan would require the Forest Service and the Park 

 Service to operate jointly in the same territory; and while such 

 cooperation might conceivably be established in a few carefully 

 delimited territories, it is altogether out of reason to expect such 

 a dual administration to succeed over the enormous and far-flung 

 areas of the National Forests and National Parks. The sugges- 

 tion indeed proceeds on the assumption that only a few restricted 

 portions of the Forests are used for recreation. This assumption is 

 very far from the truth. The fact is, as already pointed out, that 

 public recreation develops upon practically every square mile of 

 the Forest domain. Such an interpenetration of two branches 

 of administration (which now exist in two separate executive 

 departments) could be accomplished only by the practical amal- 



