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Show Land management agencies have employed roadside and lakeside zoning to preserve greenbelt strips and to control development and use for this purpose, but the practice has no statutory recognition. It holds much promise as a design tool for more effective environmental management, All uses are not precluded by such zoning, but are controlled to preserve the visual qualities of the near and distant landscape. Public land sites with high quality outdoor recreation potential should be inventoried and classified in advance of development. Recreation use values should be given primary consideration in permitting future uses of the site resources and the nearby area. The Commission believes an inventory and classification of public land recreation site values will contribute much toward establishing a basis for minimizing conflicts. Field examination of the public land base for unique natural, archeological, and geological features that do not qualify for national recognition or status should be another consideration in such classifications. Coordination with state and local recreation planning agencies to anticipate future needs for high density recreation should precede any zoning of these sites to restrict other uses. A policy of recreation site relocation should be adopted to permit more flexibility in the resolution of conflicts between recreation and other resource uses. Land uses of a given site for various purposes frequently take place on different time schedules. It takes from 30 to 150 years to produce a harvestable stand of timber under good management for various tree species at different locations on the public lands. Even though these sites may be administered primarily for timber production, many of them are capable of supporting recreation facilities and use during most of the growing period up to the time of harvest. The same is true for mineral production and livestock grazing. With some land uses, the time phasing need only be seasonal. We believe the adoption of recreation operating systems that provide for shifts in site use on both a long and a short-term basis will permit the accommodation of greater recreation use of public lands, with a minimum of conflict involving other resource values. A policy closely related to the concept of relocation can also be employed to reduce opportunities for conflict. Generally, alternative sites in the vicinity should be considered before proceeding to select a recreation site that would compel serious restriction or the elimination of other uses in the area. Regulation of Recreation Use The values for which national parks and wilderness areas have been set aside should not be destroyed 206 by an overuse for intensive outdoor recreation purposes. The existing authorities for administration of the national parks provide similar status to both the preservation of the natural environment for the future and the current use and enjoyment of the parks. Likewise, the Wilderness Act directs administration of wilderness areas for "the use and enjoyment of the American people in such manner as will leave them unimpaired for future use and enjoyment as wilderness." 13 In order to protect national park and wilderness area values, action must be taken now. Recreation use should be regulated to minimize conflicts with the natural conditions and with other uses of public lands. The values for which national parks and wilderness areas have been set aside should not be destroyed by an overuse for intensive outdoor recreation purposes. The problem of deterioration of both the environment and the recreation experience due to overcrowding has reached crisis proportions in many national parks, and is likely to occur more frequently in wilderness areas in the future. Annual visits to Yosemite National Park have risen from 640,000 in 1946 to 2.3 million in 1969. On Memorial Day weekend in 1969, over 70,000 visitors and their vehicles entered the 7 square miles of the Yosemite "16 U.S.C. § 1131 (1964). |