recreational purposes. Limited use areas, such as 

 parks and reservoirs, and developed recreational 

 sites, such as campgrounds and picnic areas, account 

 for a high proportion of this acreage. 



Private outdoor recreation supply. — The 740 mil- 

 lion acres of private forest and range lands in the 

 United States represent a substantial land base for 

 outdoor recreation, especially in the eastern United 

 States. Of the 672 million acres of private, noncor- 

 porate forest and range lands in the United States, 

 about 50 percent is located in the eastern United 

 States. Also, over half of the Nation's 68 million acres 

 or corporate forest and range lands are in the South 

 with 19 percent in the populated Northeast. ^o 



In providing a wide variety of outdoor recreational 

 opportunities, the private sector has assumed an 

 expanding role as a supplier in recent years. In the 

 public sector, where sentiment is more and more one 

 of leaving the development of capital-intensive, 

 convenience-oriented facilities to the private sector, 

 trends reflect a growing recognition of the comple- 

 mentary nature of public and private supplies of out- 

 door recreation. 



Presently, the majority of the developed ski areas, 

 campgrounds, marinas, swimming pools, and guest 

 houses and ranches are on private lands. In addition, 

 private lands constitute a sizable recreation resource 

 for such dispersed opportunities as hunting, fishing, 

 hiking, picnicking, horseback riding, and off-road 

 vehicle use. Currently, about 29 percent of the pri- 

 vate, noncorporate and 54 percent of the corporate 

 forest and range lands in the United States, are open 

 to the public for some form of recreation (table 3.4). 2' 

 Further, an additional 50 percent of noncorporate 

 and 15 percent of corporate lands are currently avail- 

 able either to family members, friends, and employees 

 of the owners, or to special groups through lease or 

 other arrangements. Although unavailable to the 

 general public, considerable recreational use is made 

 of these lands by the owners and their guests. For 



2" Corporate forest and range lands include holdings by business 

 (mostly manufacturers, but including other commercial enter- 

 prises) as opposed to private, noncorporate holding where objec- 

 tives of ownership are usually personal. 



2'Cordell, H. K., R. McLellan, H. Stevens, G. Tyre, and M. 

 Legg. Existing and potential recreation role of privately owned 

 forest and range lands in the United States: An assessment. (In 

 process). (Information describing private lands and their recrea- 

 tional potential as described in this section was derived through a 

 nationwide survey during 1977 and 1978 of private, corporate, and 

 government landowners and managers. This study was a coopera- 

 tive effort among the Forest Service and Soil Conservation Service 

 of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Clemson University, Ste- 

 phen F. Austin State University, and the University of Kentucky. 

 Detailed data from the study will be published as technical reports 

 in the near future by the Southeastern Forest Experiment Station). 



example, 64 percent of owners allow guests to hunt 

 on their property. 



The availability of land to the general public for 

 outdoor recreation varies considerably among regions. 

 For example, the percentage of corporate land avail- 

 able for public use varies from a high of 67 percent in 

 the Pacific Southwest and 63 percent in the North 

 Central region, to a low of 49 percent in the Pacific 

 Northwest and 51 percent in the Northwest. The per- 

 centage of private noncorporate land available varies 

 from highs of 44 percent in the Rocky Mountain and 

 Great Plains and 42 percent in the Northeast, to lows 

 of 16 percent in the South Central States and less 

 than 10 percent in the Southeast. The high percentage 

 in the Northeast is heavily influenced by the land 

 available in Maine where, traditionally, much of the 

 private land is open for public use. 22 



Noncorporate and corporate owners have several 

 reasons for their particular public use policies. Im- 

 proved public relations, or some other form of a 

 "good neighbor" policy, is the primary motivation of 

 41 percent of noncorporate and 63 percent of cor- 

 porate landowners to open lands (fig. 3.2). 



An additional 8 percent of noncorporate and 3 per- 

 cent of corporate owners cited income earning poten- 

 tial. Twenty-one and 13 percent, respectively, indi- 

 cated that their land is open because it would be too 

 difficult and costly to post and enforce the postings. 

 Another reason for opening significant acreages 

 of corporate land for public use is multiple-use 

 management. 



Hunting is by far the most common recreation use 

 allowed by both noncorporate and corporate land- 

 owners. Sixty-three percent of noncorporate land- 

 owners permit hunting on the lands they have desig- 

 nated as generally open to public use. Similarly, 84 

 percent of corporate owners permit hunting. Hiking 

 and fishing also are commonly permitted activities 

 with 37 percent of the noncorporate owners permit- 

 ting these activities; for corporate owners, 70 percent 

 permit hiking and 63 percent permit fishing. Activi- 

 ties such as picnicking, camping, horseback riding, 

 and off-road vehicular use are also commonly 

 allowed. Other activities, such as snow skiing, boat- 

 ing, and swimming are permitted, but by many fewer 

 owners, perhaps due to a lack of suitable climate or 

 facilities. 



Future prospects for increasing the availability of 

 developed private lands for such recreational uses as 

 campgrounds, ski developments, and marinas are 

 encouraging where returns on investments may be 



^2 Steward, B. E. Recreation use of private land in a portion 

 eastern Maine. Maine Agricultural Experiment Station, Misc. 

 Pub. 685. 1963. 



73 



