Three Layer Cake

The Great American Outdoors:  A common camping ground
By Kristina Gill
Original printed photos as cited below

To understand the American passion for camping and the outdoors is to understand a slice of the cultural, economic, and institutional history of the United States as well as early American literature.  Camping and outdoor recreation is truly an American institution-- in the real sense of the expression. The President's Commission on Americans Outdoors (1986) observed "The majesty of the great outdoors helped make America and Americans what we are today!  No mere coincidence matched a national character of independence of resourcefulness, and of generosity, with a land of splendor, vastness, and inspiration." Enjoying the outdoors, whether it is in the form of camping, fishing, hiking, day trips, overnight trips, rock-climbing, and more is part of a common sense of ownership and protecting these areas is part of the civic duty that children are taught in schools and in their communities. A baby bear cub rescued from a forest fire in 1950 in New Mexico became the national symbol for fire prevention.  Named “Smokey Bear” after an Ad Council fire prevention poster character, the bear’s motto “Only you can prevent forest fires” became so much a part of American society that in 1952 Congress passed into law a bill governing the commercialization of the name and image of Smokey Bear.  Although Smokey died in 1976, his teachings on how to care for environmental resources, responsible camping and fire prevention live on. 

Yellowstone, the world's first national park was established in 1872 in the United States followed in the 1890s by Sequoia, Yosemite, and Ranier were also established. In 1916, Congress created the National Park Service, under the Department of the Interior, to "preserve unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations."  Twenty years later, with the completion of Hoover Dam outside Las Vegas in Nevada, recreation outside wilderness areas was added to the National Park Service's areas of competency.  Lake Mead National Recreation Area, comprising boating, swimming, and camping facilities along Hoover Dam's reservoir was the first recreation area built by the Park Service.

How deeply engrained the American outdoors is in American culture is also reflected in the transcendental writing of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, the poetry of Robert Frost, and George Catlin. Driven by the perceived need to escape urban sprawl by providing an area for recreation within the city, New York's Central Park was designed by Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux-- all before the creation of the National Parks Service.  Over the course of time, both in response to increasing economic prosperity, mobility, urban growth, and free time, the American government has always met its citizens’ demands for more outdoors recreational opportunities with an increase in resources from dollars, to land, recreational facilities, trail networks, and more. Today the NPS system includes 376 national parks, ranging from the Grand Canyon to the Statue of Liberty and the Virgin Islands Coral Reef Monument.  The areas managed by the NPS are not limited to national parks, but also include monuments, battlegrounds, memorials, trails, coasts, and reserves.

So for many Americans, “camping” or more generally outdoors recreation is a part of all aspects of American life. It represents more than a passion for outdoor recreation, a way to spend time with family and friends, fitness opportunities, environmental appreciation and conservation, “open classrooms”.  Camping, the locations and related activities, are an American institution provided by the government for its citizens to teach them the value of the vast American territory and how to enjoy it and use it so that it remains beautiful and a common resource for generations to come.
 
Photo credits:

Mt. Rainier, Reflection Lake: One of the most photographed views in the park. Photography Courtesy National Park Service. (reflelTH.jpg)

California Historic Trail, Soda Springs, ID. The trail passes through the states of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, and California.  Photography Courtesy National Park Service.  (Soda Springs 4x5)

Rocky Mountain National Park, Bear Lake.  Hikers at Bear Lake, Courtesy Rocky Mountain National Park. (Bear Lake.gif)

1944 National Forest Service poster by Rudolph Wendelin, of Smokey Bear as the symbol for fire prevention (Smokey3.bmp)

North Arm Cabin, Alaska, National Park Service facility. (northarm.jpg)