204 CONFERENCE ON NATURAL BEAUTY 



cases might be referred for decision? Is it feasible to do such a 

 thing? 



Mr. SARGENT. I think it would be very difficult to get anything 

 done. I think that the State is sensitive to the local scene. I think 

 that the State works with the local communities. We certainly hold 

 public hearings. We take into consideration the views of the local 

 people and then we in turn work with the Federal Government. 

 It seems to me if we have superimposed on this a further limitation, 

 we would veto it. Creating a committee such as we are doing in 

 our State where we have landscape architects, architects, and other 

 experts serve and advise us, is very helpful. We are glad to have 

 advice and criticism. But I think to have any further vetoes placed 

 on our operation would make it almost impossible to operate at all. 



Mrs. J. LEWIS SCOTT. The plant ecologist should design right-of- 

 way vegetation and the policy for its management. Broadcast 

 herbicide spraying removes valuable vegetation such as native wild- 

 flowers and shrubs. Selective use of herbicides and treating the 

 vegetation according to ecological principles will insure the protec- 

 tion of natural beauty in keeping with highway safety. 



BOYD MILLER. I have quick suggestions to make. The interstate 

 system as it started was built in entirely too short sections to make 

 any kind of natural beauty possible. As you drive through the newer 

 parts you can see where the additions changed in design, which gives 

 you a kind of patchwork. 



Then, too, you go through sections that have been neglected. I 

 wonder if the Federal Government is going to do anything about 

 that. The agencies should get together throughout the whole system. 



HENRY WARD. I think there are two points that are very im- 

 portant. No one on the panel answered the question about legisla- 

 tion forbidding a highway going through a park. I have spent most 

 of my life in this area. It would be a serious mistake to prohibit the 

 use of this land for highway purposes because it had been a park. I 

 hope that this doesn't give some of you the idea that there is something 

 absolutely sacred about a piece of land merely because once it was 

 called a park. Land is for public use. We are building for it. I 

 participated in building parks. I have built highways for public use. 

 The greatest use for the benefit of the public is what that land ought 

 to be used for. 



