170 CONFERENCE ON NATURAL BEAUTY 



birds had to leave their nests with young in them because they did 

 not have the habitat. The Corps gave no consideration to the need 

 for fresh water in the Everglades. 



I go back to my recommendation on the panel discussion, that there 

 should be a central agency to take into consideration all values. I 

 don't really blame the Corps of Engineers in one way because they 

 do not know those values and can't possibly get them without going 

 to some central agency that can check them out. Their project went 

 through Congress before this problem ever came up. I think that 

 having a central agency to coordinate all angles before a project is 

 started is vitally important. 



Mr. FEISS. In line with what both Mr. Slay ton and Mr. Wirth 

 have said, I wonder whether, if the legislation now pending passes, 

 these new river basin commissions would not be the central focal 

 point. Presidential appointments of the citizen members of these 

 commissions provide a point around which these various questions 

 should revolve. I am not saying the proposal for demonstration 

 and grants would not be valid at this time, but it seems to me the 

 question here is one that relates to a totally new program. The leg- 

 islation would establish a program which would set up a kind of 

 mechanism that should make it possible for all of the Federal, State, 

 and local agencies to come to one point for a discussion of the very 

 kind of problems Mr. Wirth and others this afternoon are talking 

 about here. 



Mr. Chairman, may I cite one little instance of a recent local 

 demonstration grant, if you want to call it that, without Federal 

 funds? The city of Rochester, N.Y., with its own funds has just 

 completed an in-town study of the Genesee River Valley, including 

 design plans for the river and economic development plans simul- 

 taneously with engineering water studies involved. As far as I 

 know, this is the first modern, up-to-date study of an urban river 

 within the boundaries of a city. There are larger studies of the 

 Genesee being undertaken by the Genesee River Policy Body, but I 

 am speaking here of the 18 miles of the length of the river within 

 the city itself. 



DONALD WOOD. Several years ago the Housing and Home Fi- 

 nance Agency gave us a section 314 demonstration grant to 

 study the applicability of urban renewal techniques to waterfronts. 

 Our main report has not been published. However, tomorrow I 

 am discussing the final text with the people from HHFA. Our 



