8 



The administration of recreation on these areas requires careful 

 planning. Conflicts with other activities must be avoided and dif- 

 ferent types of recreation provided for. The hiker needs areas 

 where he will not be offended by the fumes of motor cars, and the 

 itinerant camper must not be prevented from enjoying his gypsying 

 by an excess of private permits. The hunter must have game and 

 the naturalist must have refuges where wild life may be observed 

 and enjoyed unmolested. So this whole activity, perhaps the newest 

 in the national forests, involves much planning on the part of the 

 forest officer. 



THE NATIONAL FORESTS OF COLORADO 



Colorado contains 1 per cent of the Nation's people, and Colorado's 

 national forests contain 1 per cent of the Nation's timber. These 



Emerald Lake, San Juan National Forest 



forests with their present stand are capable of growing every year 

 more timber than is used annually by the people of the State. This 

 can be said of very few States. Thus, Colorado's forest problem is 

 not the discouraging one of building up new forests, but the happier 

 one of husbanding and managing existing timber resources. 



The national forests of Colorado, with a total area of 13,234,380 

 acres, lie in the high country along the Continental Divide which 

 extends north and south across Colorado from New Mexico to Wyo- 

 ming. (Fig. 6.) Some of them are natural units, and others are set 

 off arbitrarily for convenience of administration. In all, there are 15 

 national forests lying entirely in Colorado and small portions of 

 two others, the Hayden * and La Sal, while lie chiefly in the neigh- 

 boring States of Wyoming and Utah, respectively. Table 1 gives 

 some data concerning the national forests of Colorado. 



1 Described in detail in United States Department of Agriculture Circular 82, National 

 Forests of Wyoming, 



I 



