beyond developed recreation areas. Use of appropriately powered and wheeled off-road vehicles (ORV's) or horses offer effective means of extending visitor protection along trails. ORV's may also be used for maintenance. Litter, vandalism, and fire hazards are often severe along trails because they are so seldom patrolled, and normally receive low priority on maintenance schedules. This is generally true for all agencies involved with trails, not just the Corps.

Patrol Units Appropriate to the Need

All rangers in the study were observed using patrol cars or pickup trucks (Sketch 8) While it is possible to park such vehicles and walk, other means of circulation may be used which may be more effective. Scooters and bicycles have been used effectively in urban park situations where close proximity to user populations is needed. Boat patrols also offer good views and access to activity areas (Sketch 9).

Mounted rangers and police officers have again become quite popular because of their good public relations image and usefulness in cross-country patrol.

There may be recreation areas and facilities, such as trails and hiker campsites, which are not suitable for automobile surveillance. Patrolling systems should be flexible to utilize the kinds of alternative transportation means available and appropriate to the use and en

It is axiomatic in the park and recreation field that good esthetic quality in design of facilities and landscapes is an important ingredient to a satisfying recreation experience. At the same time, however, very little effort has been made to perfect statistical correlations between esthetic parameters and recreation behavior.

Many of the municipal and regional park agency administrators interviewed indicated firm belief that good esthetic design in park areas

and facilities and clean maintenance did much to deter vandalism and littering. Corps park managers, on the other hand, tended to have less strong feelings about the role of esthetics in the design of their recreation areas.

While there is a regulation on esthetics within the Corps Engineering Regulations, it appears that there is still progress to be made in implementing esthetic policy and practice.

I. Environmental Protection

There are certain resource management practices that need the additional support of law enforcement for their implementation, where adequate protection is not now provided under Title 36 regulations, or spelled out in ER 1165-2-400. These pertain to usually unique situations where environmental conditions become temporarily sensitive or in jeopardy, or where there are certain types of environmental management standards that visitors appropriately should be obliged to reflect in their use or resources. The continuity of the management efforts directed at these areas often needs protection equal to, and the character of, regulations governing visitor use of the recreation area.

Some of the significant examples of environmental protection regulations are described in the following sections.

Restricting the Use of Trails and Other Areas When Wet

When soil conditions are particularly vunerable to damage by use, such as when wet and soft after a rainfull, clearer authority is needed to restrict use of these areas until they are in suitable condition. It is standard practice to restrict use of golf courses while the ground is wet enough to be damaged by footprints. Similarly, trails often receive the most severe damage by foot, vehicular or horse traffic when wet. Additionally, restrictions should apply to areas where vegetation is being reestablished.

An example is restricting access to lakeshore beaches which

are unstable cue to erosion. This could also be assisted by controling motorboat access to lessen impact of waves causing shoreline erosion and limiting intensity of use in areas where carrying capacity is clearly known.

Enforcing Air and Water Quality Standards

This would be especially helpful where visitor activities are in violation, such as in campfires, vehicle exhaust, or discharge of waterborne waste materials.

The study of law enforcement and visitor protection did not concentrate extensively on environmental problems, observations from field surveys and the literature review clearly varify again the need to implement the environmental management and protection measures pre10 scribed in the Corps management report of 1969. It would have been redundant to review the problems already analyzed in this report, which still remain, in large part, unfulfilled. This report should be a bası: input into the design and implementation of a Corps of Engineers law enforcement program.

Ease of surveillance and deterrence to crime and vandalism may be accomplished in planning and design of the recreation area landscape. The judicious and innovative use of plant materials, layout and siting and clearing can provide vistas and spatial relationships that facilitate visitor protection. In some parks, where increasing crime has become a problem, such as James McClatchy Park in Sacramento, the police influenced the clearing of all underbrush and trimming of lower tree branches six to ten feet above the ground. This allows clear views across park areas from patrol routes, but esthetically it is an unsatisfactory solution. Authorities at Central Park in New York City have resisted such pressure