48 CONFERENCE ON NATURAL BEAUTY 



8. It is most disturbing to many of us working on a State and 

 local level to find how many various Federal recreational programs 

 do not require project identification as part of a comprehensive ap- 

 proach. Some of the new Federal highway requirements are a 

 step in the right direction. Certainly the Housing and Home Fi- 

 nance Agency "Tide VII" approach is sound and should be en- 

 couraged. But these are the exceptions. "566" funds for recrea- 

 tion are not necessarily correlated with State or county recreational 

 plans and neither are game and fish funds. We all know of ARA 

 projects and Community Facilities loans for recreation with abso- 

 lutely no correlation with the over-all needs of the community. Yes, 

 and I realize at this conference that this may be heresy, but too 

 many States are rushing their statewide plans to meet BOR require- 

 ments, with the prime objective of getting Federal money instead 

 of looking at their State-local relationships. 



In Minnesota the legislature has approved a new grant-in-aid pro- 

 gram that pays up to 50 percent of the local share of any planning 

 program that includes a complete natural beauty program as part 

 of the plan. At the same time the State has set in motion a State 

 regional planning program. A million dollar grant-in-aid program 

 was also initiated paying up to 50 percent of the costs of any recrea- 

 tional and natural resource program, including scenic easement, 

 archeology, historic sites, etc., that is eligible for Federal funds from 

 any of the various programs. Minnesota, however, has said that all 

 the projects must be identified as part of a county or regional com- 

 prehensive plan approved by the State. This approach seems sound 

 to Minnesota and we commend it to our partners on a Federal basis 

 for serious consideration. 



Mr. GULICK. As was said here by the chairman and by Senator 

 Muskie and by Laurance Rockefeller in the plenary session, 

 this roundtable is concerned with ways and means of achieving the 

 goals which have been presented to us with such flaming enthusiasm 

 in the President's address on this whole subject. 



I come to this as a management engineer, concerned with how 

 you organize to accomplish the great dreams that you have set your- 

 self, the goals that you have presented, the enthusiasms that you have 

 aroused in the American people. Because there is no question about 

 it, the President has not only aroused the enthusiasm of many other 

 leaders in this country, he has released a desire, alleviating a hunger 

 which has been there for years, but which has never had a chance 



