The Forests
There are one hundred and seventy-one separate National Forest tracts, and these one hundred and seventy-one forests are found in twenty-nine states and territories. The territories are Alaska and Porto Rico.
The administrative arrangement of these tracts is by districts, of which there are eight. The First District contains twenty-six forests situated in Idaho, Montana, South Dakota and Washington. In the Second District there are twenty-seven forests located in Colorado, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming. District Three has fourteen forests which are found in Arizona and New Mexico. The Fourth District includes thirty-five forests in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming. In District Five we have twenty-one forests which are in California and Nevada. District Six holds twenty-five forests situated in Oregon and Washington. The seventh district includes forests in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Maine, New Hampshire, [[183]]North Carolina, Oklahoma, Porto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. District Eight covers the forests of Alaska.
If you go into almost any city west of the Great Plains and pick up a telephone book the chances are that you will find a number entered in it for the “Forest Service.” And if you should go to the address recorded with the number you will probably find an office building in the business part of the town, within which somewhere is a glass door carrying the name of a National Forest.
There are such offices in Seattle, Portland, and Los Angeles; in Denver and Salt Lake City; in Missoula, Mont., and in Tucson, Ariz. Also there are National Forest headquarters in dozens of little places of which you may never have heard.
Besides trails suitable for foot passengers and pack animals there are within the Forests other hundreds of miles of roadway fit for automobiling. Much of this mileage has been built by the Forest Service, usually in coöperation with local (county or State) authorities. But, however financed, the finished roads lie far and tempting through the forests. Thither the camping tourist in his automobile may take his way and linger for days and weeks at a time. The mountains, streams, and woodlands are laid open to many thousands of persons in this way, and no one counting their crowding procession can doubt their appreciation of the opportunity.
A typical example of this provision for public [[184]]service is found in the Park-to-Park Highway running between the Yellowstone and National Park and Glacier National Park, constructed by Forest Engineers and passing over the Great Divide and through the Beaverhead and the Bitterroot Forests. The most famous example is certainly the Columbia River Highway which, though not designed or built by the Forest Service, passes for miles through the Oregon National Forest.
Along these automobile trails camps are in strong demand. Many trail tourists do not mind patronizing the hotels a part of the time, but for the rest they greatly prefer the tent and the camp fire. To meet their needs the Forest Service has laid out and equipped a large number of camps. These are always located where good water is available, and usually a practicable wood supply is an item of the equipment. Simple provisions are made for sanitation, and cement fireplaces are often installed. Sometimes telephone service is made available. Such camps are extensively used by travelers, especially along the more popular through routes. To a certain degree they prove a protection for the forests, since the camp fires of the tourists, instead of being set in out-of-the-way and dangerous places, are made in safe areas. It is found, moreover, that the campers, once their interest and coöperation is aroused, become a volunteer fire guard of no mean efficiency. In hundreds of instances these tourists report incipient fires or assist in putting them out.
The number of visitors to the National Forests [[185]]now mounts up into millions. Of these over three and a half million last summer were motor tourists.