Forest Outings By Thirty Foresters

BASIC PRINCIPLES GOVERNING RECREATIONAL MANAGEMENT ON THE NATIONAL FORESTS

1. The recreational resources of the national forests will be so managed as to provide for their fullest use consistent with suitable use of the other national-forest resources under the multiple-use plan of management. This involves determination of the areas on which the recreational values are so important as to justify dominant or exclusive consideration; the areas where recreation and other uses are of approximately equal importance and may be enjoyed concurrently with relatively minor mutual concessions in management; and the areas where either recreational values are so small or other uses so important as to call for subordination of recreational use.

2. Areas of special value for recreation will he identified, protected, and suitably managed in order to bring about a balanced program providing for all forms of recreation appropriate in the forest. This will include, at one extreme, adequate provision for such concentrated use as on campgrounds, picnic grounds, organization camps, resort areas, and the like; and at the other, setting aside substantial areas where natural conditions will be retained, including virgin, wild, and wilderness areas.

3. The planning and development of the recreational resource and the necessary adjustments with other uses will be conducted in cooperation with all groups interested in recreation or other resources. The organization of local and general associations of those interested in recreation to act in an advisory capacity in national-forest recreation planning will be encouraged.

4. Priority in the expenditure of Federal funds to care for visitors to the national forests will be given to those developments which can take care of the most visitors for a given unit of expenditure. Under this principle the following priority order will usually be recognized: Campgrounds and picnic grounds, organization camps, resorts. Preference will also be given to recreational developments which emphasize opportunities for participant rather than spectator enjoyment of forest-recreation activities.

5. Particular attention will be given to facilities for the use of those in the low-income groups who can enjoy forest recreation only if its cost is small. This means emphasis on both camping and picnicking facilities, and organization camps owned by the Government and made available to those sponsoring vacations for low-income groups.

6. Uses which require exclusive occupancy, such as summer homes and limited-membership clubs, will be confined to areas not needed by the general public, and will necessarily have the lowest priority.

7. The Government will install and operate simple, moderate-rate resorts in order to insure appropriate and timely developments and provision of adequate service at the lowest feasible rates. Where public funds are not available for this purpose, such installations will be permitted by private enterprise, but under permit requirements which retain government control of the type of development and the quality and cost of services rendered.

8. The Forest Service will develop or permit the development of such facilities as will aid in the enjoyment of those types of recreation appropriate to the forest environment. It will exclude inappropriate developments and especially those which tend to introduce urbanization into the forest. In all developments the aim will be to have them harmonize as much as possible with the natural environment.

9. The Government will install or permit installation of facilities only to the extent required to serve public needs so as to keep to a minimum the introduction of artificial developments in the forest environment.

10. The recreational developments on the national forests will be managed so as to complement rather than compete with those available on other public lands in the same locality. Likewise, duplications will be avoided of developments on private lands which care adequately for the public needs under conditions and rates comparable to those on the national forests.

11. The recreational use of the national forests will be handled with the fewest possible restrictions on users consistent with the protection of the forest against destruction or damage, the observance of essential sanitary and safety measures, and the prevention of actions by individuals or groups which would unduly interfere with the enjoyment of others.

12. Charges will not be made for the use of ordinary facilities such as those commonly provided on campgrounds, picnic grounds, and winter-sports areas, but in general charges will be made for special facilities.

WHAT TO DO WHEN LOST

Most forests provide maps and folders free, to visitors. You can get them from the forest guard or ranger. They are good to have, not only as a means of getting oriented, but also as aids to understanding the country. Most of the maps carry, on their reverse side, concise local information, and admonitions as to sane forest behavior. This, taken from the back of a California forest map folder, is the counsel of long experience:

A clear head will find itself. If everyone remembered this, there would be fewer persons lost in the mountains and forests. Loss of mental control is more serious than lack of food, water, or clothing. The man who keeps his head has the best chance to come through in safety.

The following helpful rules are worth remembering:

1. Stop, sit down, and try to figure out where you are. Use your head, not your legs.

2. If caught by night, fog, or a storm, stop at once and make camp in a sheltered spot. Build a fire in a safe place. Gather plenty of dry fuel.

3. Don't wander about. Travel only downhill. Follow watercourses or ridges.

4. If injured, choose a cleared spot on a promontory and make a signal smoke. The Forest Service fire lookouts or the observers in an airplane may see your smoke.

5. Don't yell, don't run, don't worry, and DON'T QUIT.

6. A word from the forest ranger to the new camper, hiker, or vacationist:

It is better to carry a clear head on your shoulders than a big pack on your back; yet in going alone into the mountains it is well to go prepared for any emergency. A fish line and a few hooks, matches in a waterproof box, a compass, a little concentrated food, and a strong knife should always be carried. A gun may help as a signal, seldom for obtaining food. Above all, keep cool, and the chances are you will come out of the woods on your own feet.

Three quickly repeated and evenly spaced sounds or signals are a standard distress call on land. Signals may be of any kind, audible or visible—calls, whistles, gunshots, flashes from searchlights or mirrors, smoke signals, waves of the arms, a piece of clothing or firebrand, or three small fires evenly spaced. The repetition in threes and the even spacing distinguishes the distress call.

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. (click on image for a PDF version)

TABLE A.—National-forest areas in complete Federal ownership
[Acreage as of January 1, 1940]

TABLE B.—Census of big game on national forests, January 1, 1939¹

TABLE C.—Number of fires in the national forests of the six western regions in relation to camper and smoker fires, and number of recreational users, 1924-36, average annual figures

IMPEDIMENTS TO RECREATION FOR THE ILL-TO-DO

TABLE D.—Distribution of income units (families and single individuals) in the continental United States,by annual income level, 1935-36

TABLE E.—Amount and percent of population of continental United States in six zones according to the cost of a round trip to the nearest national forest for a group of four, based on 1930 census

TABLE F.—Relation of percentage of entire United States population to percentage of national-forest campers in each income class