maintaining those areas. This is in accordance with the recommendations of the Recreation Division of the National Resources Board. An important proviso of the pending bills is the authority granted the President, upon recommendation of the Secretary of the Interior and concurrence of the Department having jurisdiction, to transfer such Federal lands to the State as are not required for Federal purposes and are chiefly valuable for recreation.

The National Conference on State Parks, made up of State park authorities, has uniformly endorsed this proposed legislation, as has the American Planning and Civic Association, the Association of State Foresters, and other organizations interested in conservation. The benefit that would accrue from it has been amply demonstrated during the past 2 years by the results of the temporary cooperation brought about by supervision of State Park Emergency Conservation Work activities of the National Park Service.

SPORT AND OTHER WINTER USE OF PARK AREAS GROWING

Once considered as purely seasonal in their public appeal, the national parks and monuments are becoming of increasing interest for winter use each year. This growing use during the late fall, winter, and early spring months is bringing up problems in connection with all-year personnel, accommodations for visitors, and particularly winter-sport development to which a great deal of study is being given.

The most striking winter-use development is that in connection with winter sports. This development has not come about through the efforts of the National Park Service to stress or publicize this type of use. Rather the public demand for cold-weather recreational areas has impelled the Service to take cognizance of the possibilities for cold-weather sport use of many areas under its supervision, and to make them available for such use where practicable with limited funds and personnel.

The action of the National Ski Association, at its annual meeting in Chicago last December, in selecting Mount Rainier National Park as the scene of its national championship downhill and slalom ski races focused attention definitely upon the outstanding opportunities for winter-sport developments available in those mountainous national parks enjoying comparatively mild climates and easy accessibility. The championship meet, which took place at Paradise Valley, was one of outstanding interest and attracted 7,000 visitors. Parking space for 2,000 cars was provided. Mount Rainier was also the scene of tryouts of contestants in certain ski events to represent the United States in the next Olympic games.

Yosemite National Park continued to be one of the important centers in winter sports. The second annual invitation ski meet was held February 2 and 3 on the ski slopes about 15 miles above the floor of the valley. Skiing has become the principal winter attraction in Yosemite, and the all-year maintenance of the Wawona Road and a portion of the Glacier Point Road resulted in the use of contiguous areas by thousands. From December 22 to March 31, 11,914 people used the ski fields, the total in 1 day being as high as 500.

The Giant Forest-Lodgepole winter area in Sequoia National Park attracts thousands of visitors from the valley cities of California, about 2 hours' drive from the park over excellent paved roads. The annual Sierra-San Joaquin Winter Carnival, heretofore held in Yosemite, took place at Lodgepole on January 12 and 13, with an attendance of over 4,000 people on the latter day.

Informal use of toboggan slides and skating rinks in the General Grant National Park has shown a considerable increase and the demand for these facilities continues to grow. The tenth annual ceremony at the base of the General Grant Tree, dedicated as the Nation's Christmas Tree, was held at high noon on Christmas Day. Although weather conditions in Rocky Mountain National Park were exceptionally mild, public interest in winter-sports activities in this area, which was one of the pioneers in the national park field, showed a marked increase. Tournaments sponsored by the Estes Park Snow Club and the Ski Club of Grand Lake were well attended, and the fifth midsummer ski carnival held in Estes Park on June 22 and 23 by the local club was an outstanding success.

The Crater Lake Ski Club held a carnival at Fort Klamath in March. One of the features of this annual meet was a 16-mile downhill race from Crater Lake Lodge to the ski grounds, and another 32-mile race comprising a round trip between these two points.

The third annual ski tournament, sponsored and conducted by the Mount Lassen Ski Club, was held in Lassen Volcanic National Park. In this the National Park Service has taken no active part, but with the constantly increasing demand for winter sports in the park, officials are striving to make available facilities for such activities on a safe and satisfactory basis. So far inadequacy of funds and equipment has prevented much progress.

Hot Springs, Hawaii, and Grand Canyon National Parks also are popular during the winter, Hot Springs in particular being famous for many years as a winter resort. Hawaii Park, from the climatic standpoint, is equally favorable to travel throughout the year. Carlsbad Caverns has a goodly share of visitors in the winter. Al

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though encountering changing weather conditions on the surface, visitors find in the caverns a practically stable temperature of 56° Fahrenheit throughout the year. No official count was made of winter travel to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, but park officers reported that the number of visitors to that area continued to mount. Wind Cave and Platt also showed decided gains. Other national parks to remain open all year were Acadia, Zion, Fort McHenry, and Lincoln's Birthplace. Of the 24 national parks, but 6 now are closed to winter travel.

The ideal season for visits to Death Valley and many of the other southwestern national monuments is during the winter months. Travel to Death Valley National Monument for the winter season showed a phenomenal increase, a number of the visitors utilizing the airplane facilities at Furnace Creek.

The historic areas of the East and South entertain visitors throughout the year, and this use is expected to grow as developments now under way are completed.

INFORMATION SERVICE TO THE PUBLIC

All possible effort was made to furnish to the public full information on the national parks. In the field of printed material, however, adequate service was impossible because of the limited funds available. So small were the editions of information circulars which could be issued for the scenic parks that the supplies retained for distribution from the Washington office were in most cases exhausted by the end of June, shortly after the regular park travel season opened. It is predicted that the supplies of practically all of these booklets will be completely exhausted, both in Washington and in the field, by the first of September.

If the National Park Service is to continue to function fully for the benefit of the traveling public, it is imperative that adequate printing funds be made available. Plans now are being made to go to press within the next 4 months on all the park information circulars for 1936, in order that printed information may be available as early in the coming calendar year as possible for the use of those planning park trips, for clubs and other organizations undertaking national park study courses, for students making parks the theme of their dissertations, and for the great body of school children, the future travelers of the Nation, who now are intensively studying the subject of parks.

Available printing funds now permit the publication of exceedingly limited editions of information circulars on the older scenic parks only. No provision is made in the printing allotment for guides to the points of interest in the military and other historic

and prehistoric parks and monuments which, since President Roosevelt's reorganization of August 1933, make up more than half the number of parks and monuments under the administration of the National Park Service. If these areas are to be of maximum usefulness and enjoyment to visitors, they must be interpreted in the light of the events which made them of national interest. To do this printed material is essential, since it is obvious that the two million people visiting these areas cannot all obtain information through first-hand contact with the limited ranger-historian staff. During the past 2 years the Service has endeavored to meet this situation through the issuance of small leaflets prepared by the multilith process through the courtesy of the miscellaneous service division of the Department of the Interior. Because of limitations of equipment and personnel in that division, the leaflets necessarily are held to a small size and to extremely small editions inadequate to meet the demand.

One of the greatest needs of the interpretation program in the Service today is to have made available the results of studies conducted by the various scientific and technical staffs of the Service for distribution in printed form. Otherwise in many cases the benefits of the projects undertaken are largely nullified. This condition prevails particularly in the field of wildlife, where studies are made for the purpose of obtaining data to serve as the basis for the formulation of broad programs looking toward the preservation in unmodified condition of the native fauna in our national parks. Only one such report could be issued during the year.

Through the cooperation of the director of emergency conservation work, a revised edition of 50,000 copies of the publication entitled "Glimpses of our National Parks" was issued. The revised booklet, outlining the general objectives of the National Park Service and the activities of the Civilian Conservation Corps in the national parks, in addition to descriptive material on these areas, made an interesting addition to the libraries of the Civilian Conservation Corps camps.

POSTERS

The first colored posters depicting national-park activities to be printed by the Department of the Interior were issued shortly after the close of the 1934 fiscal year. These were followed by 2 others stressing winter sport activities, and later by another series of 3 representing historic, prehistoric, and wildlife phases of national-park work. Only small editions of these various posters, financed from emergency funds, were possible. The demand for them, and their display in places prominent throughout the country,

proved the desirability of the extension of this type of printing. Educational institutions showed a marked interest in the posters, using them in connection with art and geography classes, and for general display.

RADIO BROADCASTS

Probably the widest publicity given to the national parks and monuments during the past year resulted from the expanded radio programs. Through the courtesy of the National Broadcasting Company, a series of 14 Nation-wide broadcasts was given in the late spring and early summer, with half-hour programs. The Secretary of the Interior opened the series; Mrs. Roosevelt gave an interesting talk on practical phases of park trips, such as the safety of horseback riding and desirable costuming; and officials of cooperating Federal bureaus joined National Park Service officials in the discussion of many phases of park work. The Marine Band cooperated by playing on 6 of the programs, the Navy Band on 1, and the Army Band on 1. Vocal selections on several of the programs were given by Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees.

Under the auspices of the State chamber of commerce and the Federal Business Association of California, several radio talks were given by officials of the National Park Service in the West during the months of April, May, and June.

In addition to the Nation-wide and other special broadcasts, a series of 20 mimeographed talks on specialized park subjects was prepared in the Washington office of the National Park Service and sent to more than 200 radio stations requesting such material.

VISUAL EDUCATION SERVICE

Under the emergency program it was possible to push the motion picture production program, with the principal objective of recording the accomplishments of the Civilian Conservation Corps in the areas under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service. During the year 6 silent and 9 sound reels were produced depicting Civilian Conservation Corps activities in national and State parks. One, a two-reel sound picture, is attracting much attention at the California Pacific International Exposition.

In connection with the extensive educational program of the Civilian Conservation Corps camps, a cooperative agreement between the University of Chicago, Electrical Research Products, and the National Park Service resulted in the production and circulation among the camps of six reels of sound pictures in the field of elementary physical geology.

Besides this emergency phase of the visual educational service, the National Park Service continued to produce photographs, glass