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their related land resources. 



While the States have retained control of the uses of estuarine waters, 

 local governments have been delegated the prime responsibility for man- 

 aging the adjacent land areas, which in many cases has included much of 

 the marsh and wetland resources. The local governments, inadequately 

 staffed and frequently too small to encompass an entire estuarine or 

 coastal area, lacking funds and receiving little guidance, coordination, 

 and supervision from the States, often have been subjected to severe 

 economic and political pressures to proceed with unnlanned or limited 

 purDOse development without an adequate anDraisal of the lonn-range 

 adverse impacts on the estuarine and coastal environment. As a result 

 all too many valuable estuarine and coastal resources continue to be 

 destroyed or greatly diminished in their usefulness. 



The Recommended Role of Local Government 



Despite this rather unhappy picture, the role of local government in 

 the management of the estuarine and coastal zones is a crucial one 

 because it is "on scene" and directlv concerned with the people, indus- 

 try, the land and water. 



This singularly important role in estuarine and coastal management 

 includes such thinns as waste collection, treatment and disposal, land 

 use planning and control, and the development of estuarine and coastal 

 areas for commerce, transportation, recreation, etc. It also includes 



