48 



Things are moving. The COAP is being developed, and we recognize 

 that we must keep pace with, if not ahead of, developments at the 

 national level. On the other hand, we are keenly aware of the necessity 

 for close cooperation and coordination with local government at this 

 city and country level and by no means do we intend to slight the 

 importance of coordinating with the private sector. 



This entire problem of coastal zone management is a perplexing 

 one that will tax the ingenuity of our best experts, but we believe that 

 we have such experts, that it can be done and more importantly, that 

 it will be done for the benefit of our State, the Nation, and the world 

 at large. 



I am going to skip the BCDC report. 



Mr. Sprague. Thank you, Mr. Dolan. Since that is his primary 

 responsibility, the next speaker will, I am sure, focus on some of the 

 interstate problems of coastal management. 



Frank Gregg is chairman of the New England River Basins Com- 

 mission with headquarters in Boston and has been since September of 

 1967. He is a graduate of the University of Colorado and prior to 

 coming back to Boston to head up the New England River Basins 

 Commission, he was vice president of the Conservation Foundation 

 here in Washington. 



I think he has a monumental task in Boston to coordinate all of 

 the water management efforts of the six New England States all of 

 whom are very individualistic and I hope that he will tell us some- 

 thing about what the New England River Basin does. Frank ? 



STATEMENT OF R. FRANK GREGG, NEW ENGLAND RIVER BASIN 

 COMMISSION, BOSTON, MASS. 



Mr. Gregg. Thank you very much. What I will try to do in these 

 remarks is to offer some comments on the question of priorities which 

 have nothing to do with the subject of this particular panel, but which 

 I feel called upon to volunteer anyway. 



I will argue that effective management will require joint State and 

 Federal planning for use and development of the coastal zone and as 

 distinct from State planning without Federal participation, which is 

 the pattern that seems to be developing. 



I will report to you on some of the ways in which the New England 

 States and the Federal agencies who are members of our commission 

 are tr5dng to work to improve interstate and Federal-State planning 

 and in the region, and I will offer comments on how our commission's 

 efforts relate to some of the proposals that are before this conference 

 and the Congress. 



On the question of priority, everyone who has been involved in this 

 national effort for the last 3 or 4 years to develop a system for effec- 

 tive management of coastal resources has recognized the unique values 

 of estuaries and other natural systems in the coastal zone and everyone 

 has also recognized and devoted explicit recognition to the conflicts and 

 demands for use of the coast, but I don't see in the implementing pro- 

 posals that are now before the conference any suggestions of the pri- 

 orities that might be followed in attempting to reconcile these conflicts 

 and I would suggest that public policy, and we are talking here about 

 what Government can do for management of the coastal zone, should 



