236 CONFERENCE ON NATURAL BEAUTY 



inventory of the important scenic areas and then to establish priori- 

 ties to be sure those important ones are saved. 



Mr. HARTZOG. The Historic Sites Act of 1935 charges the Secre- 

 tary with the responsibility of developing a national historic land- 

 mark program and this has now identified more than 500 national 

 historic landmarks. About two years ago a companion program to 

 identify natural landmarks was also initiated and approved by the 

 Bureau of the Budget, is now underway, and 16 have now been 

 identified. We expect to continue working on this as rapidly as 

 possible. 



I might say also that we have been able, in working with the 

 Bureau of Public Roads and Urban Renewal Administration, to 

 identify these in such a way that they will show up when the plans 

 come in for review. The Urban Renewal and the Bureau of Public 

 Roads people will know where most of the historic landmarks are 

 and what they are getting into if they approve that plan. 



Mr. MACRAE. Is there an absolute number? 



Mr. HARTZOG. There is no absolute number. That's all that we 

 have been able to do to date. These certificates have just been 

 awarded by the Secretary. As a matter of fact, all these plaques 

 have not yet been presented. 



WILL SHAW. I would like to address my question to Professor 

 Lynch, possibly to muddy the waters a little bit because everybody is 

 talking about freeways in rural parks. 



I want to ask you, what is being done with regard to shall we 

 call them scenic roadways through cities? What progress is being 

 made in that direction to your knowledge? 



Mr. LYNCH. To my knowledge very little progress. Most urban 

 highways simply take a strip for the highway alone. There is no 

 excess condemnation beyond the right-of-way. But by using excess 

 condemnation, you might develop parks and new linear development 

 integral with the road. There are a few examples today of structures 

 being placed over roads. Mr. Halprin talks about building struc- 

 tures under roads. There is a whole new potential here. 



ROBERT WENKAM. I merely wanted to add a little comment with 

 respect to freeways. When a decision is made as to the route of a 

 freeway I guess we all have to live with it somehow. However, I 

 understand that about 50 percent of the vast interstate highway 



