CAMPING PA-502

To assist campers and other visitors in understanding and enjoying the National Forests, the Forest Service has built Visitor Centers in different parts of the country. These Visitor Centers, although they contain exhibits and displays as do all museums, are not museums complete in themselves. They are focal points of interpretive complexes, designed to present highlights of the local forest story in a manner that will motivate visitors to explore the forest and enhance their enjoyment of the great outdoors. The Centers also further the visitor's understanding of wise management and use of forest resources.

The botany, geology, ecology, zoology, history, geography, and archaeology of the area are explained with the aid of maps and photographs. Usually there is also an audiovisual room where illustrated talks and films complement the exhibits.

Forest naturalists greet visitors at the Center, orient them to the area and its many recreation opportunities and facilities provided by the Forest Service, answer their questions, distribute maps and brochures, and help them plan their visits.

Underwater windows provide visitors with a unique view of fish habitat in a mountain stream. Rainbow Pool Stream Profile, Visitor Information Center, Eldorado National Forest, California.

In these ways, each visitor is prepared at the Center for his out-of-doors experience. When he leaves the Center he is motivated to see for himself not only the beauty of nature but also the underlying order of its complexity. The opportunity to enjoy his new insight into the workings of nature and its relationship to man is waiting for him just outside the Center.