CAMPS 95 



been suggested. There are some 3,800 different forest camp sites already es- 

 tablished on the national forests, and more are being opened fast in response 

 to need. You have seen in the description just given one of the newest, 

 the simplest, the least complete in the sand-and-bayou semiwilderness of 

 western Florida. Have a look now, 1,500 miles or so to the north and east, 

 at one of the largest, and perhaps the hardest to handle of all the Forest Serv- 

 ice's free public campgrounds — Dolly Copp Forest Camp in northern New 

 Hampshire. 



Dolly Copp Forest Camp was a commercial resort of the summer-rooming- 

 house type long before forest reserves were created, and long before these 

 were renamed national forests and foresters were charged to administer 

 them for multiple use. But Dolly Copp knew a hundred years ago what 

 multiple use was when it came to mountain air and forest recreation, and 

 getting a living out of that ground at the same time. A pioneer White Moun- 

 tain woman, she was pioneer also in one of our greatest national industries, 

 the outdoor recreation business. She was a feminist, too. The story of her 

 life is an oft-told legend among White Mountain people today and the 

 facts appear to be well established. 



If Mrs. Copp could come back and retrace her way up Pinkham Notch 

 now, she would marvel at our progress. Hard black roads, beautifully 

 graded, strike up nearly every major notch in the White Mountain barrier 

 now. This mountain borderland between Maine and New Hampshire has 

 become one of the most heavily used resort regions in the world. The White 

 Mountain National Forest embraces more than 708,000 acres in Maine and 

 New Hampshire. The 37 State parks and 113 State forest units, ranging in 

 size from 2 to 6,000 acres, run the total area of publicly administered pleasure 

 ground in New Hampshire up to more than 775,000 acres. 



But this protected and managed acreage, larger than the entire State of 

 Rhode Island, is by no means a solid, unbroken strip of mountain country. 

 The State forests and parks, with their 11 developed fresh-water bathing 

 beaches, their 15 camp sites, their 19 picnic places, are rather widely scat- 

 tered. And the White Mountain National Forest, with its 17 developed 

 forest camps and picnic grounds for motor travelers, and its 308 miles of 



