PARK AND CEMETERY. 
135 
guarded and rightly developed in the pub- 
lic interests unless the public itself parti- 
cipates in their handling. In the past the 
wild lands of our upland and mountain 
regions have been more or less open for 
camping and hunting. Vast areas have 
been cut and burned off and their special 
attractiveness destroyed. As the timber 
stands become restricted greater care is 
exercised by the owners in their general 
use. Many owners fear to have campers 
on the lands because of the increased dan- 
ger from tire. Some wish to hold the 
property exclusively for their own use. 
Others lease their lands to hunting and 
fishing clubs. The closing of private tracts 
is therefore constantly contracting the 
areas available for public use. How com- 
mon it is for parties to find spots, where 
formerly they stopped to camp over night, 
posted with “Private Land — Keep Off.” 
More and more large private preserves are 
posted with “No Trespass” signs, or the 
camper is met by a warden who requests 
him to move on. Local resentment in 
mountain countries at the closing of one 
large tract after another to the camping 
and hunting by the public is not wholly 
lawless. It is hard to see a few privileged 
persons control the mountains where for- 
merly free access for recreation was al- 
lowed. There is the feeling on the part of 
the men who have guided, fished and hunt- 
ed over these areas that they ought to be- 
long to the whole people in common. And 
they are right, and if I am not mistaken a 
large part of these mountain lands will ulti- 
mately be publicly owned or controlled. 
The closing of private lands points to the 
value of publicly owned forest lands, where 
people living in urban communities and 
hot agricultural regions can find an oppor- 
tunity for the refreshment and recreation 
that can be secured by a sojourn in the 
forest. More and more, therefore, the 
lands owned by the nation, the States, and 
local communities will have an importance 
as public playgrounds. 
These facts apply with special signifi- 
cance to the National Forests. Located as 
they are chiefly in the mountain regions, 
the National Forests comprise many re- 
gions of superh scenery and unexcelled 
recreation attractions. It is not only to 
the noted mountain sections that I refer, 
as in the Olympic Mountains, the Cas- 
cades, Sierras, the Rocky Mountains, or 
here in the east in the White Mountains 
and Southern Appalachians. I have in 
mind also the lakes, both the larger ones 
like Chelan, Tahoe, Pend Oreille, Coeur 
d'Alene, and the innumerable smaller lakes, 
the streams abounding in fish, the deep 
forests, the canyons, superb mesas, and 
other features that in infinite variety and 
interest occur throughout these forest re- 
gions. 
The problem of the recreational use and 
enjoyment of the public forests is not as 
some think one of mere sentiment. Of 
course there is sentiment in the enjoyment 
of fine scenery, in camping, in sport. In- 
deed, I feel sorry for the man who has no 
sentiment about the mountains and their 
forest scenery. Neither is it a question 
of protecting the forests and scenic w'on- 
ders for a few wealthy persons who can 
afford to take long trips on the railroad,- 
by expensive pack outfits, and so on. We 
have a very practical problem of opening 
up and making available the public proper- 
ties for as wide use as possible by people 
of little means as well as by those better- 
to-do. 
The possibilities of public benefits of the 
recreation use of the National Forests and 
Parks was never better illustrated than dur- 
ing the past summer in Colorado. It was 
a time of great heat in the agricultural re- 
gions of the plains states. Nearly seven 
hundred thousand people visited the Na- 
tional Forests of Colorado alone. Trains 
were crowded and hotels filled to over- 
flowing. But thousands came in their au- 
tomobiles or other conveyances, from the 
cities and farms, equipped with tents and 
cooking outfits, and camped in the Forests 
a day or two here and there, or often tor 
a longer sojourn near a stream, a lake, 
mountain meadow, or other attractive spot. 
The immediate service of the public for- 
ests for recreation is just as conspicuous 
in other portions of the National Forests. 
It is a regular thing for the people living 
in the valleys of California and southern 
Oregon and elsewhere during the hot sum- 
mer to take frequent camping trips in the 
mountains, sometimes for a few days, 
sometimes for several weeks. Through- 
out the National Forests are found thou- 
sands of such campers, a large majority 
of whom are local residents from the val- 
leys below, seeking refreshment from the 
heat. Some of the Forests already are vis- 
ited by no less than fifteen to twenty thou- 
sand people each year; and I estimate that 
there are at least one and a half million 
persons who use the Forests in a single 
year, chiefly for recreation purposes. 
In a very real sense the recreation at- 
tractions of the National Forests constitute 
a natural resource that must be safeguard- 
ed, utilized, and developed. It is a re- 
source of great economic importance to 
the local communities. By its development 
every citizen in the locality benefits di- 
rectly or indirectly. It is not only through 
the added business in furnishing accommo- 
dations, supplies, transportation, and so 
on, to the tourists, but many persons be- 
come regular visitors, often building sum- 
mer homes and becoming permanently 
identified with the region. In a multitude 
of ways the local industries are stimulated. 
The recreation features of the National 
Forests are fostered in a variety of ways. 
First, by protection from defacement of 
those sections of special value and interest 
SUMMER HOME IN A CALIFORNIA 
national forest. 
Such sites as this one can be leased for long terms at 
moderate rates. 
READY FOR A TRIP THROUGH A NATIONAL FOREST. 
Pecos Valley, New Mexico. 
