456 CONFERENCE ON NATURAL BEAUTY 



States and their political subdivisions to acquire urban open space 

 for conservation, recreation, and historic preservation purposes. 



Grants of 20 percent (or 30 percent where the applicant has open 

 space responsibilities for a metropolitan area or urban region) may 

 be made direct to local governments for acquisition projects. Proj- 

 ects must be related to comprehensive planning for the area in which 

 the land is located. 



Administration of the program has been delegated to the Urban 

 Renewal Administration. 



Appropriations for fiscal year 1965 were $20 million. The request 

 for 1966 is $60 million. 



The Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 gives the 

 Secretary of the Interior authority to provide grants-in-aid to States, 

 and to local governments through the States, to acquire (and 

 develop) land and water areas for outdoor recreation purposes. 



Grants of 50 percent may be made for acquisition or develop- 

 ment projects consistent with a statewide outdoor recreation plan. 

 All applications are made by the States. The States may transfer 

 Federal matching moneys to local governments for approved proj- 

 ects consistent with the statewide plans. 



Administration of the program has been delegated to the Bureau 

 of Outdoor Recreation. 



By 1968, and in subsequent years, combined appropriation re- 

 quests will probably exceed $200 million annually. 



Both programs should be available for use in the new suburbia. 



The amounts authorized or foreseeable under both programs 

 even if applied exclusively to land acquisition in urban and urban- 

 izing areas would fall far short of needs. 



But out of concern for a number of things Congressional criti- 

 cism of duplication, confusion among applicants, and a clear threat 

 to the vitality of the HHFA program because of its lower matching 

 contribution a great deal of effort has gone into attempting to tidy 

 up relationships between the two programs. Specifically, serious con- 

 sideration has been given to effectively excluding the land and water 

 program from standard metropolitan statistical areas in which the 

 new suburbia lies. 



The two programs do overlap. The HHFA program is clearly 

 intended to operate in urban and urbanizing regions. And the BOR 

 program the legislative history is clear is intended to help pro- 

 vide accessible outdoor recreation resources for urban dwellers, as 

 well as to protect scenic and recreational resources in the outlands. 



