Pueblo chieftain., 1921-01-16
|CARHART TELLS OF THE TRUE
MEANING OF LANDSCAPE WORK
RELATED TO NATIONAL FORESTS
On Largest Possible Scale, Discordant Elements viii
Be Removed or Adapted, Until the Forests
Are Made More Perfectly Beautiful

Ditch, when people arc informed
that the recreation work within Ma
tional Forests is strictly in tho realm
of landscape architecture, they look
wide-eyed and marvel that such an
activity should be allowed in these
great spaces of outdoors There is but
one answer to such astonishment and
that is that this surprised person has
no moro true conception of the field
of landscape architecture than he has
of the rules of golf in Saturn-if they
have golf there
The popular idea of landscape ar
chitecture is that the person procticing
in that profession confines his efforts
to producing feird animal shapes out
of lockwood trees. planting fancy
colored foliage beds, or building
marble fountains, white pergolas and
stone seats. The first two effects be-
long to definite a period of landscape
development in the past and one as
far from representing modern land
| scape styles as are the hoop skirt or
coat OF mail in dress The building
of geometric gardens is distinctly only
one limited section of the ar. of land
scape architecture ard is no more rep
resentative of the whole than are
Pueblo's railway yards representative
of the really pleasing and well planned
portions of town.
One who holds such views on this
great field of art that he thus judges
rhe whole by a very small part may
well be shocked when ho is told that
recreation developments in tho Ma
| tional Forests are founded In tho
principles of landscape art Especial
| ly this Is true IL this person be a true
lover OF unspoiled natural beauty
There are those in another group.
/ however, who are so fed up on ceme-
terry and railroad station styles Of
landscape architecture that they ac-
| cept this as the proper thing and
have been known to develop such
monstrous features in beautiful rural
settings. .. -.
II landscape architecture Is not con-
| fined to planting of red geraniums or
gaudy flower beds, what is 1t? Fun
damentally, it is a fine art 1t ranks
in art with sculpture. music and
painting Even 1t is possible of more
subtle appeal than any of these, for
we have the land with US continually.
As fine art, it has for its sphere tho
adaptation of land surfaces to the use
of human beings It's work then
passes thru every field of the planning
| of land surfaces from tho scheme OF
small cottage garden or door yard
to the functional planning OF entire
cities and in the case of forest lands
from the planning and building of
stub trail ono hundred feet long reach
! ing a pleasing outlook point, TO tho
structural design and detail planning
of a complete recreation scheme COW
cring not alone one forest. such a5 tho
San Isabel, but going farther ana
planning that area with direct refer
enco to such a system of recreation
as Is found in the grand regional plan
of the San Isabel. which takes in that
forest as component part OF
recreation scheme covering eight
forests and six or seven million acres
an area almost equal to the total
acreage OF our entire national parks
system
No small part OF tho misunder
standing regarding what landscape
architecture strives to accomplish IN