online book

Book Cover
Cover Page


MENU

Contents

Preface
Letter


SECTION I

Orientation
Summary


SECTION II

History
Needs
Geography
Historic Sites
Competitors
Economic Aspects


SECTION III

Federal Lands
State and Interstate
Local


SECTION IV

Division of Responsibility
Local
State
Federal
Circulation


SECTION V

Educational Opportunities




Recreational Use of Land in the United States
SECTION I
LAND USE AND RECREATION
2. SUMMARY

sketch: Pure of Polluted?
FIGURE 4.

Some Competitors of Recreational Land Use

Some of the important competitors of recreation are: Private consumption of recreational resources, water pollution, lumbering, grazing, drainage, and artificial stream control.

The common desire to own a small segment of forested lake front or stream side for a summer home is rapidly leading toward the exhaustion of these resources, insofar as their availability to the great portion of our population is concerned. It is not probable that the common demand for outdoor living will be satisfied when this limited natural resource will have passed into private hands. Moreover summer homes, dude ranches, and resorts frequently occupy strategic points which actually control the much larger hinter land. It is believed that the policy of permitting summer homes within public lands of recreational value should be carefully reconsidered to the end that a more equitable and sustained use of the resource may be attained.

No definition of water pollution is needed. Every one knows that large quantities of foreign matter such as oil, refuse from rayon, paper, and saw mills, sulphurous water from mines, sewage, and other industrial and civic wastes are discharged into our rivers, lakes, and harbors. In addition to the effect upon aquatic life, healthful water and shore recreation are affected, and fire hazards created.

Lumbering is one of the necessary forms of land use but it does not improve the recreational value of an area. Unless an aroused and enlightened public acts in its own behalf, the finest remaining primeval forests will go down before the logger.

Stock grazing has a definite effect on recreational values. Where overgrazing occurs erosion is abnormally accelerated and the final condition of terrain renders it almost useless for wildlife, and, in fact, for any kind of recreational use whatsoever. Overgrazing on the headwaters of a stream may render its entire course unfit for recreation.

No problem today more vitally affects the future of our wild waterfowl (and therefore the recreation of millions of people) than the drainage of swamps and marshes. As a nation we have been dealing with our marshes much as we have with a great many natural resources; acting first and considering consequences later. The recreational value of such areas has been brushed aside as a matter of idle sentiment. Drainage is conducive to rapid rum-off resulting in erosion, streams of flood character, and the depositing of debris. Certainly, drainage projects should not be undertaken without comprehensive knowledge of the ends sought, the values involved, and the probable results.

The construction of reservoirs for irrigation and power frequently results in the destruction of scenic, historic, and archeological values. In extremely arid regions reservoirs may add recreational value; but this should not be overestimated, for fluctuating water levels leave an unsightly, unusable "no-man's land" between high and low water, wherein all vegetation dies and the accumulating litter decays.

It becomes evident that the forms of land use which compete with recreational land use are not confined to recreational areas per se. In other words, area is not a proper unit of measurement because recreational resources permeate the whole mosaic of our national resources. Recreational use of national resources, therefore, must be correlated with other forms of use, except within areas of primary recreational value. In these latter, no competing use of the resource can be permitted. Any analysis of such forms of land use and abuse and their relation to recreational resources suggests very strongly the need of a Federal agency whose responsibility it should be to call attention to recreational resources, particularly when other uses of such resources would needlessly destroy their recreational value.

sketch: More Spent for Recreation Means Less for Insanity, Crime, Disease
FIGURE 5.

Economic Aspects of Recreation

Since it costs money to provide recreation, and since its provision has certain economic effects, it is important to know to what extent the public provision of certain kinds of recreation is justified. What is the cost of providing Americans with leisure time occupation? What effect do the parks have on property values and employment? Does the public cost of providing recreational facilities have offsets in decreased expenditures for jails, insane asylums, and correction homes? How is the public to bear its share of the cost of selecting, acquiring, developing, and operating recreational facilities, and what costs may the users of publicly owned recreational facilities be expected to bear? What is the extent and importance of private enterprise in recreational economy?

A few years ago it was estimated that the annual national expenditure for recreation amounted to more than $10,000,000,000. In 1932 the Federal Government expended $10,857,000 for development and operation of areas and facilities established for recreational use. In addition to the National Park Service appropriation there is included in this figure the funds specifically appropriated to the Forest Service for recreational facilities. Portions of the appropriations of other bureaus, such as time Bureau of the Biological Survey and the Bureau of Fisheries, should be added to the Federal recreation bill.

In 1931 estimates of State expenditures for recreation indicated a total of $41,830,000, and of this total $14,258,000 was for operations. Expenditures by county, metropolitan, and municipal governments approximated $162,853,000.

Funds for the establishment of recreation areas are acquired by general taxation, special assessments, excess condemnation, donations, transfers, leases and permits, or any combinations of these. Costs are to some extent offset by income which is derived from the use of public recreational facilities. During the fiscal year 1934, $731,332 was received by the National Park Service from various park fees. Concessions of various types serving recreation seekers brought an income of $297,831 to the United States Forest Service in the same year. Figures on the State income for recreation are not available at the present time, but there has been a marked tendency in recent years to make State parks earn at least a part of their development and operation costs. There is a growing feeling that the special service charge is a more equitable means for providing maintenance funds than is the straight entrance fee. Fish and game activities are largely supported by State license fees.

Developed recreational resources have economic effects, one of which is the improvement of adjacent property values. However, no comprehensive figures are available on this. Creation of parks has stimulated logical civic planning, such as the creation of zoning restrictions. The study of recreational land use as a factor in rural economic life is yet in its infancy. Certainly, in many localities encouragement of recreational business has served partially to offset the decline in agricultural values. It is possible that this factor will prove to be the economic salvation of some upland States. These benefits come chiefly from establishment of summer homes, summer camps, resorts of various kinds, and all the commercial undertakings which derive benefits from these and from the people who use them. In Connecticut, for example, the total assessed value of land and buildings devoted to recreational purposes is $200,000,000.

State parks which draw an appreciable volume of more than 1-day use create markets for farm products. State park users are frequently good customers for rural handicraft products. They sometimes create demand for overnight accommodations in nearby towns and farms.

One economic result that is socially undesirable but which has an influence on real estate values is the tendency of parasite commercial ventures to establish themselves close to park entrances. The experience of State park authorities in obtaining extensions of existing parks is ample proof of increased values either actual or assumed. The natural economic benefits of park establishment to surrounding lands are responsible for pressure to secure parks in areas unsuitable for park purposes, and this pressure must be resisted for obvious reasons. Planning predetermines which sites are desirable, thus providing bulwarks against such pernicious pressure.

It would be impossible to determine the amounts of the offsets to certain other governmental costs which arise from the adequate provision of recreational facilities. There are many examples, however, where a definite decrease in crime and in juvenile delinquency has come as a result of providing accessible recreational facilities.

Private enterprise in the field of recreation constitutes one of the major businesses of the country. The public provision of recreational facilities is a very large factor in the promotion of commercial recreation enterprise. It is estimated that almost $4,000,000,000 was spent in motor camping and other vacation travel in the United States in 1929. For the same year it is estimated that hunters and fishermen spent $650,000,000 in addition to their transportation expenses. The investment of duck shooters in sporting equipment has been estimated at between one and two hundred million dollars. As a very rough estimate it was said that $1,750,000,000 was expended on forest recreation during the peak recreation year of 1929. A type of active recreation which looms large in the economic picture is golf. The estimated value of private golf club properties was $765,000,000 in 1931. Existence of publicly owned golf courses, tennis courts, baseball diamonds, etc., is directly responsible for a large part of the investment in sport clothing and equipment.

A large volume of privately conducted commercial enterprises is found actually within the public forests and parks themselves, where hotels, lunchrooms, and stores have been established and are operated under concession or franchise contract. Recent studies by the Forest Service show that there are within and near the national forests more than 5,000 farms and ranches primarily operated for recreational purposes, including hunting and fishing. The 1929 report of the Dude Ranchers' Association, an organization composed of ranches in Montana and Wyoming whose business is based on recreation, shows 51 ranches with property valued at 6-1/4 million dollars, and annual receipts of nearly a million and a half dollars.

Continued >>>




Top


Last Modified: Fri, Sep. 5, 2003 10:32:22 am PDT
http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/recreational_use/chap1-2a.htm

National Park Service's ParkNet Home