476 CONFERENCE ON NATURAL BEAUTY 



Conservation Fund Act, and the Open Space Program. Acquisi- 

 tion and development of parks, wilderness areas, recreation areas, 

 lakeshores, and seashores fall within this category. Highway beauti- 

 fication has recently become an ongoing program. 



The 87th and 88th Congresses took more affirmative action to 

 encourage natural beauty and related outdoor recreation programs 

 than any past Congress. This conference should say so. 



As to programs in the pipeline, these include : ( 1 ) completion of 

 our national system of parks, forests, recreation and wilderness areas, 

 and seashores, including Assateague, Tocks Island and other specific 

 areas enumerated in the President's Natural Beauty Message. There 

 should be a Redwoods National Park and an Allagash National 

 Riverway. On the Allagash, the State so far has left a vacuum. In 

 my judgment, it is time for the Federal establishment to move; (2) 

 creation of a system of free-flowing unpolluted wild rivers, proposals 

 for which are now before the Congress; (3) construction of a na- 

 tional and related State system of scenic roads and parkways, now 

 under study by the Recreation Advisory Council; (4) establish- 

 ment of a national system of hiking and riding trails in cooperation 

 with State and local governments and private groups; (5) an in- 

 ventory of excess military lands to earmark those suitable for pres- 

 ervation as recreation and related areas; and (6) effective control of 

 unsightly features of the countryside, such as billboards, utility lines, 

 and the well-advertised junkyards. 



Most such proposals will require Congressional action. This con- 

 ference should say what it thinks about them. 



No program gets far without effective leadership. There is leader- 

 ship in the natural beauty program in the executive branch at the 

 present time. It rests in the White House and the Department of the 

 Interior. 



But Congress and the State legislatures are the basic policy bodies 

 and it is not yet clear what priority or to what extent Congress or 

 the State legislatures wish to make policy in this field. I would like 

 to see a basic policy declaration by the Congress encompassing all 

 Federal programs that hav^ a bearing on natural beauty. 



Clarification of the extent to which the Land and Water Conserva- 

 tion Fund and Open Space programs should deal with natural beauty 

 would be helpful. Presently, landscaping programs could come 

 within the purview of the Fund Act, but there should not be specific 

 earmarking or priority directives. State and local governments 



