PARK AND C E M ET E R Y. 
137 
tional Forests. For many years the public 
regarded with increasing interest the ef- 
forts of Air. George W. Vanderbilt to in- 
augurate a system of forest protection and 
conservation on Pisgah Forest in North 
Carolina, and not only that, but to protect 
the natural game resources and to sys- 
tematically increase them. Mr. Vanderbilt 
went beyond this. He constructed many 
miles of highway through the mountains 
and more than a hundred miles of first 
class trails. After 20 years of this sort 
of care and development, Pisgah Forest 
passed to the Government and now is the 
Pisgah National Forest. Already it has 
been created a National game preserve in 
addition to being a National Forest, and 
definite plans are being carried out to 
maintain the great beauty of the mountain 
landscape, to develop the land to highest 
timljer productiveness, and to further in- 
crease the fish and game resources. Under 
a plan of co-operation between the Bio- 
logical Survey, the city of Asheville, and 
Buncombe County in which it is situated, 
the American Bison Society, and others, a 
plan is being worked out b}' which the elk 
and buffalo will be re-established on this 
Forest in large enclosures. It will be the 
purpose of the Government as far as its 
resources will permit to maintain and im- 
prove the roads and trails and in every 
way to increase the attractiveness of the 
Forest. 
In the White Alountains the public has 
an interest developed through many years 
of constantly increasing use. The point 
has been reached where hundreds of thou- 
sands frequent those mountains both in 
summer and in winter and find in them 
unsurpassed conditions for enjoyment and 
recreation. The State of New Hampshire 
has co-operated in providing five automo- 
bile highways leading through the moun- 
tains and various outing organizations have 
as a result of many years enthusiastic work 
constructed hundreds of miles of trails 
which are freely opened to the tramping 
public. Specific plans are being worked 
out by which the Forest Service will en- 
courage still further the development of 
facilities for the recreational service of 
this wonderful region to the public. 
The use of the Forests for recreation 
has been fostered by the fact that term 
leases may be secured for periods up to 
30 years for the construction of hotels, 
for summer cottages, and similar purposes. 
Many are already taking advantage of this 
opportunity to establish a summer home 
in the Forests. Of special importance is 
it to secure a systematic development of 
hotels, rest houses, and other accommoda- 
tions to visitors. Sites are being leased 
and developed for this purpose in a plan- 
wise fashion, public camp grounds are be- 
ing improved by the Forest Service, maps 
and circulars are furnished to visitors, and 
all are given a cordial and co-operative 
welcome to use the public facilities. 
A rapid development for recreation is 
following the building of roads and trails 
that has for their purposes the general 
opening up of different parts of the For- 
ests. Already there have been built about 
25,000 miles of trails and some 3,000 miles 
of roads. Most of the trail work has been 
done for fire protection or general com- 
munication. But many of the trails pass 
through sections of surpassing scenic in- 
terest. 
At the last session of Congress there 
was appropriated a special fund of ten 
million dollars to be available at the rate 
of a million a year, which added to the 
quarter of a million now annually availa- 
ble from the receipts of the Forests will 
result in opening up many regions now 
inaccessible. While the selection of the 
roads may be primarily for general devel- 
opment purposes, nearly every new road 
will greatly add to the recreation use and 
development of the F'orests. 
Of great importance as a recreational 
feature to attract the visitor is the wild 
life of the National Forests. Through the 
help of the Bureau of Fisheries and the 
State hatcheries a great deal is being 
done to maintain the fish in the numerous 
mountain streams, and with excellent re- 
sults. The game problem is a more diffi- 
cult one. The game is far less than 
should now be produced in the forests. 
Restricted authority has prevented the 
Government from doing what is obviously 
desirable and necessary in order to re- 
stock depleted areas. There is still, how- 
ever, a good deal of game at certain points, 
and I hope that it may be possible to se- 
cure authority to go « forward with the 
plans which have already been formulated 
to increase the game supply. Of special 
interest are the elk herds in the Yellow- 
stone region and the Olympics, and the 
remarkable moose of the Kenai division of 
the Chugach Forest in Alaska. Other elk 
herds occur in Montana, Colorado, and 
Arizona. Small bands of sheep range the 
rugged portions of many of the forests, 
and in some places they are increasing un- 
der prohibition of hunting ; and at numer- 
ous points deer and other game are still 
fairly plentiful. But we hope that the op- 
portunity may be given us to take the 
steps necessary to restock the depleted 
areas that could carr}' abundant game 
(and that is possible without interfering 
with the live stock industry), so that prac- 
tically all the forests will produce both 
big and small game. These would be an 
added resource valuable in itself, and a 
special attraction to the visitor, to the real 
sportsman and to the increasing number 
that now hunt with the camera. 
In considering the recreation features 
of a large forest tract one is apt to think 
first of the points of special scenic inter- 
est, such as lakes, mountain peaks, a cer- 
tain bit of forest, and so on. Of course 
such areas will be central points of at- 
traction and perhaps visited more than 
any other portions of the forest. At the 
same time every portion of a public forest 
furnishes some recreation feature which 
must be considered- in a broad plan of 
recreational development. As soon as the 
r isitor enters a forest he encounters some 
activity of interest from the public stand- 
point. It may be the protective system, 
with its roads and trails, telephones, look- 
outs, tool and food caches, etc.; or nurser- 
ies, and plantations ; or timber sales in ac- 
tual operation ; or mines ; or waterpower 
development. The forest system is a great 
public enterprise, and the visitor is almost 
invariably interested in seeing how the 
forest activities are being conducted and 
what public results are being secured. 
In working out the recreation develop- 
ment there are involved many technical 
problems. In our road building we have 
the service of the engineers of the Office 
of Public Roads. In the game problems, 
the Biological Survey experts are available 
for advice and assistance. Problems of 
landscape and sanitary engineering present 
themselves in large numbers, and we have 
associated with us a distinguished land- 
scape engineer to guide our work, each 
step in which counts large and must be 
taken right. 
An important aspect is the correlation 
of the work on the several forests with 
that of the National Parks, which in many 
cases are surrounded by National Forests 
or are adjacent to them. We seek to co- 
ordinate the forest road and trail systems 
with those in the parks. The systems of 
scenic highways should be comprehensive 
in character. They should comprise the 
National Parks, the scenic points in the 
National Forests, and the scenic points in 
the forest and park systems of states and 
municipalities, and even those privately 
owned. 
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