. The school book of forestry . I THE PLAYGROUNDS OF THE NATIONThe public forests are steadily increasing inpopularity as the playgrounds of the woodlands offer splendid opportunities forcamping, hunting, fishing and outdoor life. Mil-lions of motorists now spend their vacations inthe government and state forests. Railroads andautomobiles make the forests accessible to of miles of improved motor highwayslead into the very heart of the hills. More than5,500,000 people annually visit the NationalForests. Of this number, some 2,500,000 arecampers, fishermen and hunters. T
. The school book of forestry . I THE PLAYGROUNDS OF THE NATIONThe public forests are steadily increasing inpopularity as the playgrounds of the woodlands offer splendid opportunities forcamping, hunting, fishing and outdoor life. Mil-lions of motorists now spend their vacations inthe government and state forests. Railroads andautomobiles make the forests accessible to of miles of improved motor highwayslead into the very heart of the hills. More than5,500,000 people annually visit the NationalForests. Of this number, some 2,500,000 arecampers, fishermen and hunters. The forests provide cheap health insuranceto all who will enjoy what they offer in sport andrecreation. For example, over 1,000,000 vaca-tionists visit Colorados forests each year. If eachperson spent but five days in the forests, thiswould mean a total of 5,000,000 days or 50,000,000hours of rest and enjoyment. Recreation at thebeaches and amusement parks costs at least fiftycents an hour. Applying that rate to the free fun 102. THE PLAYGROUNDS OF THE NATION 103 which the people get out of the forests, in Colo-rado in one year the tourists, campers and fisher-men gained $25,000,000 worth of pleasure fromthe forests. The National and State Forests furnish sum-mer homes for thousands of people who live inthe neighboring cities and towns. Regularsummer home sites are laid off in many of theforests. Usually these individual sites coverabout one-quarter acre or less. They rent for $5to $25 a year, depending on the location. A mancan rent one of these camp grounds for a term ofyears. He can build a summer cottage or bunga-low on it. There are no special rules about thesize or cost of the houses. Uncle Sam requiresonly that the cottages be sightly and thesurroundings be kept clean and sanitary. Manyof the cabins are built for $150 to $300. Some ofthem are more permanent and cost from $3,000to $5,000 or $10,000. In the Angeles NationalForest in southern California, over sixteen hun-dre
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectforests, bookyear1922
