New Approaches to Forest Recreation Planning in Canada

The steadily increasing demand in Canada for opportunities for outdoor recreation will be satisfied largely on forest lands. Foresters must play the lead role in the allocation and development of lands for recreation use, and should be aware of new tools becoming available. Among these is the recreation capability mapping program of the Canada Land Inventory, which will classify all land in the designated area — some 1,000,000 square miles — according to its natural capability to engender and sustain outdoor recreation use. A parallel program is classifying and mapping wildlife capability. In addition, plans are underway for commencement in 1968 of a co-ordinated, searching analysis of the demands for outdoor recreation across Canada. Several federal agencies and the provinces will take part in associated surveys to assess present opportunities for recreation, present use of them and the preferences and habits of users and non-users.In spite of the lack of an evident national direction, and of national leadership in outdoor recreation, informal and semi-formal liaison ensure a reasonable degree of intergovernment and interdepartment co-ordination in the development of these new tools and in making them available to land use planners.