86 



take place. The reason, I think, it will take place is that Congress 

 wants it — and the Nation needs it. 



Housing coastal zone management in NOAA will clearly satisfy 

 the need to have this function in one place. 



The national interest will be best served by a strong, viable inde- 

 pendent agency with a focus entirely on the oceans and coastal zones. 



It is the lack of a single focus on the oceans and coasts by an agency 

 of the Government such as the Interior Department that is most com- 

 pelling to me. 



The Department of the Interior is basically land oriented. It has 

 statutory responsibility for such functions as: (1) custody of T50 mil- 

 lion acres of land, (2) development of mineral resources, (3) mine 

 safety, (4) recreation, (5) Job Corps Conservation Centers, (6) irri- 

 gation, (7) the Nation's Indian reservations, and (8) the U.S. trust 

 territories. The Department also has clear responsibility for certain 

 major water matters — pollution, fisheries, hydroelectric power sys- 

 tems — ^but by no stretch of the imagination, or departmental public 

 relations, is the Interior Department now an oceanography 

 department. 



It is not accidental that the Department of the Interior's symbol 

 has been a buffalo. The Bureau of Indian Affairs commands an appro- 

 priation this budget year of $261.7 million, up $31 million from last 

 year, while the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries is given $42.3 million, 

 up $1 million, for its operations this year, this in a time when U.S. 

 fisheries are going downhill at a very rapid rate. 



Coastal zone management housed in the Departmen of the Interior 

 would, in my opinion, suffer from the same relative lack of focus, 

 budget and priority as has the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. 



Just as the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries will prosper by trans- 

 fer to an agency with a clear focus and responsibility for ocean waters, 

 so will coastal zone management profit from inclusion in an agency 

 where it does not have to compete with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 

 Job Corps Conservation Centers, interior parks and all sorts of non- 

 ocean-related matters. 



Furthermore, the program envisioned calls for the States to set up 

 independent authorities to bring together the various State activities 

 bearing on the coasts. We should do no less for the Federal structure. 



Dr. Alexander. Thank you, John. Our next speaker is Mr. William 

 J. Duddleson. He is Director of Policy Studies for the Conservation 

 Foundation. He is a graduate of the University of California, who first 

 became involved in coastal zone conflicts from the viewpoint of as- 

 sistant to a Congressman representing the north coast of California. 

 As the first Chief of State Planning for the U.S. Bureau of Outdoor 

 Recreation, he helped develop the State planning and grant-in-aid 

 aspects of the land and water conservation fund program, on out- 

 door recreation program. 



In the Federal Government he has also served as Chief of Studies 

 for the President's Council on Recreation and Natural Beauty, a Cabi- 

 net level group which President Nixon renamed this year the Environ- 

 (mental Quality Council. 



