National Park Service A Study of the Park and Recreation Problem of the United States

ABOUT ONE-THIRD of the people live within a 30-mile radius of Reno and the remainder are well scattered throughout the State. There are only six communities having a population of over 3,000 inhabitants. The out-of-State motorists exceed by several times the resident population.

With the exception of a relatively small area along its rivers, Nevada is desert, mountainous, rocky, and dry. Eighty-eight percent of the land is in public ownership and the remainder is divided about equally between private holdings and the Southern Pacific Railroad.

The United States Forest Service maintains a number of picnic and camp grounds in its six national forests. The National Park Service administers Boulder Dam National Recreational Area and Lehman Caves National Monument. Under State ownership and administration are 32 recreational areas. Reno and Ely provide municipal parks. Privately owned or operated recreational ranches are of major importance and provide extensive facilities for traveling vacationists.

The State should continue to acquire and administer the more important and interesting scenic, historic, archeologic, and geologic sites; develop a coordinate plan in conjunction with the various public and private interests to provide adequate overnight housing and camping accommodations, waysides, and picnic facilities along the transcontinental highways; endeavor to prevent the drying up of Pyramid Lake by refraining from taking too much water for irrigation purposes; and cooperatively work out a program of acquisition and development of public recreation facilities in the Lake Tahoe region.

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¹ Area under Federal administration June 1938.

² This acreage included in acreage of Boulder Dam National Recreational Area except for 7,000 acres.