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Show GUV Inc. Urges ' Appreciation of Recreation Areas With the passing of Memorial Day, most folks regard that summer sum-mer is here in earnest. Of course, this means longer, warmer days, and more time for outdoor recreation recrea-tion and relaxation. If last summer sum-mer is any criteria, our canyons and forest picnic grounds will be thronged with visitors on vacation, and our own home folks out for the week-end or just an evening of out-of-door enjoyment. Many of us who have lived in Utah Valley most of our lives often fair to appreciate the wonderful facilities for recreation that we have literally in our front door-yards. door-yards. The writer spent a summer on the plains of Texas. The sun burst out of the red dirt in the morning, and sank into the same eye-level horizon at night. There was no cool twilight at either end of the day just brilliant sunshine sun-shine and black night. A forest ranger of many years experience remarked recently that last year's destructive vandalism in the local canyon recreation areas reached an all time high. Tables and stoves were demolished, demolish-ed, latrines wrecked, and trees and shrubs mutilated and destroyed. destroy-ed. Said he, "It's almost unbelievable unbeliev-able how so called civilized people will destroy the facilities that are provided for their own use and enjoyment." He went on to say that the much maligned teen-agers are not the only offenders; adults are quite frequently as guilty as the youngsters. He concluded by saying, "A moron with ah ax can destroy in five minutes what it has taken nature fifty years to produce." Present indications point out that we may expect the canyons to be abnormally dry this summer, increasing fire hazards greatly. Every wise precaution should be taken to preserve our natural recreational re-creational assets. Once an area is burned over, many years elaps before be-fore the region will be habitable again. When we forget the ounce of prevention, there is often nothing noth-ing left to cure. |