without ultimately inviting wide- 

 spread distress. 



The coast—barrier islands and 

 estuaries--may indeed be America's 

 last frontier. How we behave here 

 may determine to a great degree what 

 the quality of life will be for fu- 

 ture generations. 



Hopefully this symposium will 

 itself be a watershed in turning 

 both professional and public at- 

 tention toward estuaries and in 

 turning destructive forces away 

 from them. 



You deserve and you will have 

 important allies in this and we will 

 need them in the decade ahead of 

 us--one which may be more difficult 

 for environmentalists than the one 

 just past. 



Our history, in many fields both 

 social and scientific, has been one 

 of great activity followed by quies- 

 cense, of movement upward, followed 

 by rest on a plateau. Add in un- 

 certain economic conditions and a 

 strong budget-cutting impulse on 

 every level of government and the 

 eighties seem filled with difficul- 

 ties . 



Despite all of that--despite 

 obstacles, pitfalls, and those to 

 whom our cries mean nothing—there 

 is hope. There is hope that the 

 people's attention will not stray 

 from our concerns and the Nation' s — 

 nor the world' s— environmental needs. 



President Carter has declared 

 this year, "The Year of the Coast," 

 and we in government have tried to 

 follow his direction and to reach 

 for his goals. Tonight, I want to 

 restate his goals, speak of what 

 we are doing, knowing what he has 



set forth is non-partisan and non- 

 political . 



He said in his 1979 message on 

 the environment, and I quote, "Am- 

 erica's coastlines are extraordin- 

 arily varied, productive and beauti- 

 ful. The coastal zone is subject 

 to unusual pressures, both from nat- 

 ural causes and human activities. 

 The opportunity of our citizens to 

 enjoy beaches, bays, and marshes is 

 often threatened..." 



He then set as his goals: 



To protect significant national 



resources such as wetlands, es- 

 tuaries, beaches, dunes, barrier 

 islands, and fish and wildlife. 



Manage coastal development to 



minimize loss of life and pro- 

 perty from floods, erosion, 

 saltwater intrusion, and sub- 

 sidence. 



To assist in siting of energy, 



defense, transportation, and 

 recreational facilities. 



To increase public access. 



To preserve and restore histor- 

 ic, cultural, and aesthetic 

 coastal resources. 



And to coordinate and simplify 



government decision-making. 



Some progress has been made in 

 meeting these goals — some substan- 

 tial progress, I think— but it 

 hasn't been easy and it hasn't been 

 total. What happens in my home 

 state of Minnesota where the Mis- 

 sissippi begins may seriously affect 

 Louisiana where it ends. Surely 

 what happens in St. Louis and Mem- 

 phis and the lands around the lower 

 river does. It is obvious yet it 



110 



