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A. Background to National Park Service Involvement in Recreational Policy Issues Social conditions underwent marked changes in America during the 1920s and early 1930s. Such factors as mass production of automobiles, development, and expansion of the national highway system, shortened hours in the work week, and more days of leisure for the working man, together with a considerable rise in unemployment, greatly increased the demand for multiple-use recreational areas throughout the nation. [1] As early as 1920 Henry S. Graves, Chief Forester of the U.S. Forest Service, described the growing demand for outdoor recreational space by the American people:
Accordingly, Graves argued that the formulation of a national recreation policy was necessary. Such a policy was needed to set forth the principal objectives of national recreation, identify the opportunities and needs of recreational development, establish the basic principles underlying the purposes of the various federal reservations, and delineate the functions of each in the implementation of a national recreational program. As part of this policy he urged that the federal government cooperate jointly with the states, counties, municipalities and local quasi-public organizations to establish recreational areas. Included in his recommendations were programs to preserve scenic values along highways and to promote wildlife conservation. [3] Responding to the increasing demand for recreational development, the National Conference on Outdoor Recreation was organized in 1924 at the request of President Calvin Coolidge. The conference, which met in Washington, D.C., on May 22-24, 1924, drew some 309 delegates from 128 national organizations that were "interested in the promotion and development of one or more kinds of recreation, in the use of which the land, water, forest, plant, scenic or wild life resources of the United States are essential." The primary function of the conference was to assist in the formulation of a national policy which could "coordinate the activities of federal, state, county, municipal, and unofficial agencies in the field of outdoor recreation and to promote the development of the recreational resources of the country and stimulate their use." A secondary function of the conference was the promotion of the conservation and wise administration of the nation's natural resources. [4] Two years after the conference Congress responded to the growing pressure for more recreational areas by passing the Recreation and Public Purposes Act. This law authorized the Secretary of the Interior to exchange, sell, or lease unreserved non-mineral public lands to the states and their political subdivisions for recreational development. The act permitted states, counties, and municipalities to acquire land for recreational purposes at low cost. [5] In 1928 the Joint Committee on Recreational Survey of Federal Lands of the American Forestry Association and the National Parks Association published a report entitled Recreation Resources of Federal Lands. The report included a section on the necessity for a national recreation policy and the various land planning elements that were required in the formulation of such a policy:
Chapter Four continues with... |
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