Table ZA — Percent of private forest and range land in the United States available for public 

 recreation use by availability status, ownership, and region, 1977 



(Percent) 





Ownership status 



Region 



Availability status 



Total 

 U.S. 



North- 

 east 



North 

 Central 



South- 

 east 



South 

 Central 



Rocky 

 Mountains 

 and Great 



Plains 



Pacific 

 Southwest 



Pacific 

 Northwest 



Open to public 

 without permission 



Noncorporate' 

 Corporate' 



6 

 42 



15 

 50 



1 

 62 



4 

 29 



4 

 42 



10 

 52 



1 

 45 



4 

 43 



Open only with fee, 

 permit, or verbal 

 permission 



Noncorporate' 

 Corporate' 



23 

 12 



27 

 1 



20 

 1 



9 

 25 



12 

 11 



34 



4 



20 

 22 



24 

 6 



Closed except for 

 owner, special group 

 or employee use 



Noncorporate' 

 Corporate' 



50 

 15 



31 

 1 



45 

 1 



36 

 16 



70 

 24 



37 

 21 



33 

 10 



37 

 10 



Not designated 



Noncorporate' 



21 



27 



34 



35 



14 



19 



46 



25 





Corporate' 



31 



48 



36 



30 



23 



47 



23 



41 



'Corporate forest and range lands include holdings by business (mostly 

 manufacturers but mcluding ottier commercial enterprises as opposed to private, 

 noncorporate forest and range lands which includes individual, family, or 

 partnership ownership where the objectives for ownership are usually personal). 



Source: Cordell, H. Ken. Robert McLellan, Herbert Stevens. Gary Tyre, and 

 Michael Legg. Existing and potential recreation role of privately owned forest and 

 range lands in the United States: An assessment. (In process) 



satisfactory. However, prospects are not promising 

 for activities which offer Httle or no economic return. 

 For instance, current percentages of noncorporate 

 lands being put to recreational use indicate a signifi- 

 cant drop in availability when compared with earlier 

 studies. Brown reported a 68 percent increase in land 

 posting in New York between 1963 and 1972.23 



The major reasons for closing lands include inter- 

 ference with other activities, property damage, dis- 

 turbance of privacy, and wildlife disturbance. Also, 

 many landowners who have land open for public use 

 feel that recreational visitors create problems such as 

 littering, fire, illegal hunting, vandalism, crop dam- 

 age, and theft. In most of these situations, the land- 

 owners are protected by laws which prohibit such acts 

 as fire setting and vandalism. Apparently, however, 

 landowners do not feel that existing levels of law 

 enforcement are adequate to fully protect their rights 

 and property, and future closure of their lands is a 

 possibility. 



An underlying cause of the lack of management 

 programs for recreation is that most private land- 

 owners have objectives or primary uses for their lands 



" Brown, T. L. and D. Q. Thompson. Changes in posting and 

 landowners attitudes in New York State, 1963-1973. New York 

 Fish and Game Journal 23 (2): 101-137. 1976. 



Other than recreation. In fact, recreation is seldom a 

 major land-management objective for private lands. 

 Only 3.7 percent of the corporate land managers and 

 1 percent of the noncorporate owners have commer- 

 cial recreation as a primary management objective for 

 their forest and range lands. Other land uses which 

 take precedence over recreation include timber or 

 pulpwood production, livestock grazing, agriculture 

 production, and residential developments. It would 

 appear that, if problems with recreational use of pri- 

 vate lands could be reduced, more private lands 

 would be available to the general public; this would 

 reduce the pressure for increased government acquisi- 

 tion, development, and operation of recreation lands. 

 Public outdoor recreation supply — Federal forest 

 and range lands in the United States represent a sub- 

 stantial land base for outdoor recreation with the 

 Federal Government owning 718 million acres or 

 nearly 46 percent of the total United States forest and 

 range land acreage. Although more than 100 agen- 

 cies, boards, and commissions have an influence on 

 recreational supply, seven Forest agencies provided 

 most of the outdoor recreational opportunities on 

 those lands in 1977. The Forest Service supplied the 

 largest number in terms of visitor days of recreation, 

 followed by the Corps of Engineers, National Park 

 Service, and Bureau of Land Management (table 3.5, 

 fig. 3.3). Together these agencies managed lands 



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