The Coastal Zone 



The President has directed the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a sur- 

 vey through the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation of the recreation potential of 

 islands ofT the coastline and on inland waterways of the country, and to sug- 

 gest principles and guidelines for the conservation of these significant re- 

 sources. This study is scheduled for completion by late 1968. 



The Bureau administers the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 

 1965. Appropriations from the Fund finance the land acquisition program 

 of the National Park Service and help finance the land acquisition programs 

 of the Forest Service and the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife. A 

 portion of the funds allocated to each of these agencies has been used to ac- 

 quire land for public recreation within the Coastal Zone. All States have 

 prepared comprehensive Statewide Outdoor Recreation Plans, many of 

 which include provisions for meeting marine-related recreation needs and the 

 preservation of significant coastal areas. Based upon these plans, the Bureau 

 has assisted over 2,000 State and local outdoor recreation projects. 



Many of the shallow estuaries and bays of our Coastal Zone are not used 

 by commercial shipping and, consequently, have never been covered by 

 hydrographic surveys for nautical charting. The increasing use of these 

 shallow water areas by recreational boating and the contemplated conserva- 

 tion activities indicate that these areas should be surveyed and charted. 

 ESSA has initiated a program of surveys and the publication of small craft 

 navigational charts especially suitable for the boating public. 



The design for the National Fisheries Center and Aquarium, to be lo- 

 cated in Washington, D.C., was approved in 1967 by the Commission of 

 Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission. Detailed design 

 is underway, and construction is expected to begin in Fiscal Year 1969. 



Case Studies: Chesapeake Bay and Seattle Harbor 



Last year, the Marine Sciences Council considered that the multiple use 

 problems of bays, estuaries, and the Great Lakes required urgent atten- 

 tion, especially to identify more cFearly the potential role of science and 

 technology in assisting in the amelioration of conflicts. 



As a first step, the Council supported as a major initiative a case study of 

 the Chesapeake Bay. Simultaneously, it decided to focus multi-disciplinary 

 research activities around a laboratory already authorized for the Corps of 

 Engineers for hydraulic and ecological studies that will employ a three- 

 dimensional model of the Bay on a horizontal scale of 1 : 1,000. In view of the 

 large and complex nature of the Bay, the model should aid development of a 

 mathematical framework to predict effects of various measures on 



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