Cover Page

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

Water Pollution

No definition of water pollution is needed. Every one knows that large quantities of foreign matter, such as oil, "refuse from rayon, paper, and sawmills, sulphurous water from mines, sewage, and other industrial and civic wastes"¹ are discharged into our rivers, lakes, and harbors.

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¹ Phillips, John C., and Lincoln, Frederick C.: American Waterfowl, Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1935. 312 pp., illus. (See pp. 197—198.)

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In addition to the effect upon aquatic life, the problem is of great interest and importance because of the pollution of bathing-beaches, harbors, and shore property, resulting in interference with healthful water and shore recreation; besides an increase in the fire hazard.

The effects upon beaches of high value for recreational purposes which have been fouled by oily or tarry deposits with a serious depreciation in the value of property, have been particularly noticeable on the shores of Long Island and New Jersey within a radius of 50 or 60 miles from the entrance to New York Bay; near the capes of Chesapeake Bay; and on the coasts of Florida, Texas, and California; but such results are by no means confined to these places, and may show up sporadically almost anywhere along the shore.

Ranking with our world-famous parks as an important aid to human welfare are our coasts and lake shores, river banks, and smaller streams. In fact, to base the comparison entirely upon the percentage of the population that is benefited thereby, aquatic resorts are unquestionably second to none. Literally millions of persons gather each year at watering places for bathing and other water sports, while the streams of the country are a part of the rightful heritage of the great fraternity of anglers. Under no pretense can they be considered as legitimate dumps for the waste from industrial plants and from cities.²

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² Phillips, John C., op. cit.

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In New Hampshire, for instance, almost every stream of importance has been impaired for recreational purposes by the discharge of sewage and industrial wastes. The Saco, Merrimack, Androscogan, and Connecticut Rivers, up which great runs of salmon and shad used to pass, are now so polluted that these fish no longer enter. Hotels in the vicinity of the White Mountains discharge raw sewage directly into the trout streams.

At present, the water pollution problem is dealt with in piecemeal fashion by local units, by States, and by interstate agreements, the Federal Bureaus of Fisheries, Biological Survey, and the Public Health Service. The United States Bureau of the Public Health Service has conducted investigations of water pollution, particularly in the Mississippi River system, and recently in the Chesapeake Bay. It is stated by R. E. Tarbell, sanitary engineer in charge, Bureau of the Public Health Service, that the most concentrated foci of inland water pollution are in the mining districts of the following States: Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee, and Alabama.

Mr. Tarbell estimates that $2,500,000 would eliminate the stream-polluting, acid waste from abandoned bituminous drift mines.

It should not be forgotten in this discussion that oil is the greatest single industrial pollution item.

Lumbering

Lumbering is a necessary form of land use. Its importance here is simply the manner in which it affects recreational values. Most logged-off areas are at least temporarily undesirable for recreation. During the early years of the succeeding forest stand there may be an increase of some forms of wildlife habitats and a consequent variety in the types of recreational use of wildlife. As the forest crop again approaches suitability for timber harvesting, it again presents numerous and varied recreational possibilities. Undoubtedly, the cycle of timber production encompasses opportunities for many recreational uses of timber-producing areas.

Unfortunately, on many valuable timberlands which are outside the national forests, cut-over areas are frequently and repeatedly burned. Such fires, whether intentional or accidental, result in a progressive deterioration of all recreational values.

Where other forest values are greater than the recreational value, recreation can still be provided to some extent by forest management on the "sustained yield" basis, i. e., continuous yield of all the forest values, including recreation.

Where recreation is the prime value of a forest, lumbering has no place.

Grazing

The grazing of domestic livestock is definitely related to the recreational value of an area.

A certain amount of grazing may diminish under brush and make an area more penetrable to recreation seekers. On the other hand, pollution of water holes, seeps, brooks, streams, and picnicking or camping grounds by domestic stock is undesirable.

A reasonable amount of grazing upon hunting grounds can be coordinated with the production of game, but it is extremely difficult to balance the recreational and economic values of an area devoted to joint occupancy by game and domestic stock. If domestic stock is utilizing the range to an extent detrimental to the subsistence of game, the question of overgrazing arises.

It is difficult to restrain overgrazing. One very definite and detrimental effect of overgrazing is abnormally accelerated erosion. There is no question about the damage which erosion does to every use of an area, both recreationally and economically. Moreover, denudation of an area through overgrazing produces rapid run off, with a consequent drying up of springs, seeps, and water holes; the constant flow of streams is disrupted, only to be followed by alternating periods of flood and desiccation. This final condition of terrain is almost useless for wildlife, and, in fact, for any kind of recreational use whatsoever. Frequently, grazing on the headwaters of a stream renders the entire course of the stream unfit for recreation.

Grazing needs to be much more strictly and wisely controlled on lands of recreational value than it has been in the past. One sheep or cattle ranch of relatively small acreage, located on the winter range of a big game area, may render thousands of acres of the whole range less valuable for game.

Where recreation is the prime value, grazing of domestic stock has no place.

Continued >>>

Last Modified: Fri, Sep. 5, 2003 10:32:22 am PDT
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