KEEP TO THE TRAILS - GIVE THE FLOWERS A CHANCE.
By: Park Naturalist F. W. Schmoe

A neat green and white sign with the words, "Picking of Flowers Prohibited", has for long been a conspicuous marker along park trails. It is bearing fruit for we have very few violations of this very necessary rule.

A few popel perhaps wonder why, with un-told acres of wild flowers we do not allow our visitors to pick them. We do have enough flowers to give each of the two hundred thousand people who will no doubt visit the park this season a nice big bouquet - and there might be a few flowers left next year - but no so many. Ten years from now it would be impossible to find the beautiful Alpine flowers close to the roads and hotels where ninety percent of the people can see them.

And these parks belong not only to us today but they belong to those who come tomorrow, they belong to future generations. It is the policy of the National Park Service to maintain them in just as nearly as possible their natural condition for all times times to come, and I think we can hand down to future generations no finer heritage than these little bits of unspoiled wilderness.

However we have not been so successful in protecting the flowers from the feet of park hikers. The psychology of the short cut. Our hillsides, formally a mass of flowers, are fast becoming a net-work of footpaths, although easy trails have been constructed to nearly all points of interest.

Mr. Van Scoy of Portland is taking for the American Association a story in motion pictures that will help call the peoples attention to this oversight. It is to be a picture of flowers, and hands, and feet. Fields of wild flowers - delicate alpine blossoms - and grasping plucking hands, and careless, crushing feet. We are all careless but we can learn.