THE WILD 77 



entirely to a laissez-faire policy of inaction, with no human intervention, 

 planning, or management whatsoever, then fire, insect infestation, or 

 excesses of erosion initiated perhaps by unnatural processes outside the area 

 may destroy them. The paradox is plain. 



A section of the National Resources Board 1934 report on recreational 

 land use, prepared by the National Park Service, presents with a calculated 

 breadth and simplicity the present dilemma on the remaining primeval 

 spots and the larger expanse of wilderness amid our State and national 

 patchwork of private land, parks, and forest today. Briefly to quote: 



"Under the increasing pressure of motor travel, control of road building 

 becomes an important factor in the preservation of primeval areas. However, 

 only one motorist in hundreds ventures a mile from his car; the rest are 

 amply content with the road and the museums, lectures, and pleasures of 

 developed centers. For the few, the trail and the primeval; for the many, 

 the points of concentration and comfort. 



"By sacrifices of small areas sufficient to house, interest, and entertain 

 the masses, vast areas are preserved to the student — for today and for gener- 

 ations to come. However elaborate our road system to the parks and between 

 them may become, the roads within need be only few. Thus is met the prob- 

 lem of preserving our national parks while we also use and enjoy them . . . 



"Man's success is largely determined by his knowledge and ability to 

 make use of natural laws. The best places for scientists to learn first hand 

 of nature's laws are found where nature's laws still operate undisturbed 

 by man . . . We can afford to be careless with those things which are 

 easily replaced, but those which can never be replaced must have special 

 protection and care . . . Fairness to those who have similar rights to ours, 

 but who will live 100 years from now, demands that we save intact some of 

 primeval America . . . 



"Though in general a hands-off policy will best care for a primeval area, 

 a management policy to retain the primeval is necessary. It is still a question as to 

 how far we may safely go in providing artificial protection against fire. 1 Fire 



1 On a number of scattered wilderness and more developed forest stretches, ranging 

 from Florida to the Cascades, more fires are set by lightning than from any man-made 

 cause. Over the country as a whole, however, man causes more forest fires than lightning. 



