HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS OF RECREATIONAL USE OF FOREST LAND, WILDLANDS AND PARKS
WILDLANDS
Wildlands are natural or largely unmodified areas. Wildlands have usually located some distance from population centers.
Values of recreation on Wildlands:
Wildlands offer excellent opportunities for health-giving leisure time pursuits, which can expand individual horizons, recreation in natural surroundings a Wildlands provides for the development of physical skills as well as intellectual and cultural interests.
Physical values:
Physical values of recreation a Wildlands come primarily from such activities as picnicking, Camping, fishing, hunting, hiking, mountain climbing, riding, Skiing, boating, and swimming.
- Picnicking and camping in a company also give social pleasures.
- Mountain climbing, skiing involves a sprite of adventure.
Intellectual and culture value:
Intellectual and cultural values are derived from such interests as photography, painting, handicraft, nature study, research, understanding archeological or historical interests.
Often spiritual uplift accompanies a recreational experience.
HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS OF RECREATIONAL USE OF FOREST LAND, WILDLANDS AND PARKS:
History:
- Wildlands and forests have long been used informally for hunting and fishing the world over as a tradition.
- Tracts of lands have been reserved for parks and recreational purposes since ancient times.
- The first parks on record date from 1000 to 2500 BC in ancient Babylonia.
- Parklands were also established in Persia, Greece, Rome, Ceylon, and Indo-Pak sub-continent, eventually spreading to Europe during feudal times. Such lands were initially established for games, athletic contest, hunting preserves and formal gardens by nobility for personal pleasure.
- With the passage of time, these also became accessible to the general public.
- Establishment of wild lands for recreation and hunting was greatly seen in feudal England.
- Public parks are known to have existed in Ceylon and Indo-Pak sub-continent in the 12the before BC.
- Use of wild lands was established for recreation in the USA as early as 1864.
First National Park:
- The oldest, one of the largest, and probably the best-known national park in the United States.
- It is situated in northwestern Wyoming and partly in southern Montana and eastern Idaho and includes the greatest concentration of geothermal features in the world.
- The park was established by the U.S. Congress on March 1, 1872, as the nation’s— and the worlds — first National Park.
- It was designated a World Heritage site in 1978. The park, almost all of which remains undeveloped, covers 3,468 square miles (8,983 square km) and consists mostly of broad volcanic plateaus with an average elevation of 8,000 feet (2,440 metres).
- Among the mountain ranges that protrude into the park is the Gallatin Range on the northwest, the Absaroka Range on the east, and the Tetons along the park’s southern boundary.
- The park is also surrounded by the Custer, Shoshone, Teton, Targhee, Beaverhead, and Gallatin national forests
The Case of Pakistan:
- In Pakistan, forestlands have been traditionally used for hunting and also to some extent for picnicking and sightseeing.
- Now awareness is coming that forest areas should also be managed for recreation as well.
- Changa Manga forest plantation is an example.
- More than 34 National parks have been established (Check the latest data).
- Margalla hills are also being managed for recreation.
Image: PFI Students on Pakistan Tour Ziarat Recreational Park Balochistan
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