24 CONFERENCE ON NATURAL BEAUTY 



Rockefeller wisely recognized the need to give balance and direc- 

 tion to all Federal activities influencing enjoyment of the outdoors, 

 and the need to provide for maximum coordination of these activi- 

 ties. So it has become the function of the Council to serve as a 

 balance wheel, a direction finder, a coordinator. 



Each department represented on the Council has specific, primary 

 assignments for which it is responsible to the Congress and the Presi- 

 dent. Yet, in carrying out basic missions, each department becomes 

 involved in one or more aspects of outdoor recreation and simul- 

 taneously natural beauty. 



The Department of Agriculture's primary responsibility rests in 

 the agricultural economy and the related consumer protections, yet 

 its activities in these areas involve resource conservation and land 

 management, watershed protection and tree plantings, and rural de- 

 velopment efforts that contribute to expanded outdoor recreation op- 

 portunities. Closely associated with recreation and beauty on pub- 

 lic lands is the Department's Forest Service, while its Soil Conserva- 

 tion Service has a similar role related to private lands. 



The Tennessee Valley Authority is recognized as a source of elec- 

 tric power and fertilizers, yet its influence on the recreational re- 

 sources and beauty of the landscape in its region is almost beyond 

 measurement. 



Access to outdoor recreation and natural beauty are aspects of 

 Department of Commerce public roads policy that range far beyond 

 the commercial and convenience aspects of highway construction. 



The Department of Defense, through the Army Corps of Engi- 

 neers, adds to our recreational resources and influences restoration 

 and maintenance of natural beauty through the development of 

 reservoirs which have the basic purpose of preventing floods and 

 creating electric power. 



The Housing and Home Finance Agency is concerned with the 

 environment of housing as well as the quality of homes, and expresses 

 this concern in the planning and preservation of open spaces in de- 

 velopment areas. 



The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, by battling 

 pollution of water and air, makes what we see more beautiful and 

 what we drink and breathe more pure. 



And no agency of Federal Government is more intimately identi- 

 fied with recreation and natural beauty on a day-to-day operating 

 basis than the Department of the Interior. 



