pporting in a decade, instead of becoming
worse off each year.

Marked progress has been made along the lines indicated, but
few of the states have begun to measure up to their full
responsibility in protecting their future timber supply.

CHAPTER XII

THE PLAYGROUNDS OF THE NATION

The public forests are steadily increasing in popularity as the
playgrounds of the Nation. The woodlands offer splendid
opportunities for camping, hunting, fishing and outdoor life.
Millions of motorists now spend their vacations in the government
and state forests. Railroads and automobiles make the forests
accessible to all. Thousands of miles of improved motor highways
lead into the very heart of the hills. More than 5,500,000 people
annually visit the National Forests. Of this number, some
2,500,000 are campers, fishermen and hunters.

[Illustration: A CAMPING GROUND IN A NATIONAL FOREST]

The forests provide cheap health insurance to all who will enjoy
what they offer in sport and recreation. For example, over
1,000,000 vacationists visit Colorado's forests each year. If
each person spent but five days in the forests, this would mean a
total of 5,000,000 days or 50,000,000 hours of rest and
enjoyment. Recreation at the beaches and amusement parks costs at
least fifty cents an hour. Applying that rate to the free fun
which the people get out of the forests, in Colorado in one
year the tourists, campers and fishermen gained $25,000,000 worth
of pleasure from the forests.

The National and State Forests furnish summer homes for thousands
of people who live in the neighboring cities and towns. Regular
summer home sites are laid off in many of the forests. Usually
these individual sites cover about one-quarter acre or less. They
rent for $5 to $25 a year, depending on the location. A man can
rent one of these camp grounds for a term of years. He can build
a summer cottage or bungalow on it. There are no special rules
about the size or cost of the houses. Uncle Sam requires only
that the cottages be sightly and the surroundings be kept clean
and sanitary. Many of the cabins are built for $150 to $300. Some
of them are more permanent and cost from $3,000 to $5,000 or
$10,000. In the Angeles National Forest in southern California,
over sixteen hundred of these cottages are now in use and many
more are being built.

Where there are dead or mature trees in the forest, near summer
home sites, timber can be purchased at low pri