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involved in the future. He projects trends, population, wealth, atti- 

 tudes and other factors and tries to see the future through them. 



He forces himself to respond to the question — what should we be 

 doing now out of consideration for that future ? He works with many 

 other disciplines on these problems and when he thinks he has some 

 of the systems worked out, he goes to his customers, the people, and 

 says : 



Here's wliere we think you are going. Here's what we think you want. Here's 

 what we think you are disposed to pay for it in income expended— or in benefits 

 foregone. Now tell us what you think. 



And they do, but often with not enough concern. Many do not like 

 this projected future. They sometimes irrationally attack the predictor 

 as the causer. They sometimes loudly clamor for a type of future which 

 they quitely refuse to underwrite at the voting booth, in tax assess- 

 ments or in their individual and collective expenditure patterns. 



And so it is back to the dravring board for the engineer. For his new 

 synthesis, he sometimes gets a clear public feedback. More often his 

 approaches, conclusions, and plans evolve as people's awareness of 

 themselves evolves. 



CORPS COASTAL RESPONSIBILITIES 



Corps activities in the coastal zone, following this pattern have 

 evolved as the Nation has grown. In the beginning our national survi- 

 val was so clearly dependent on the security of the Atlantic and Great 

 Lakes coastlines that the Army Engineers centered on coastal fortifica- 

 tions and problems besetting construction at the land-sea interface. 



The dominance of this early coastal engineering theme is reflected 

 in the coastal fortification depicted on the buttons all Engineer oiScers 

 wear to this day. 



This mission soon broadened because some of the earliest acts of Con- 

 gress involved navigation improvements. Over the years, the corps 

 interest in protecting and improving the use of the coastal zone has 

 expanded as the Congress has added responsibilities. 



Today the corps is engaged in a $200 million annual program of re- 

 searching, planning, designing, constructing, and maintaining coastal 

 harbors, intracoastal waterways, interoceanic canals, hurricane bar- 

 riers, and shore and beach stabilization programs. The corps also issues 

 permits for all construction in navigable coastal waters, and we have 

 developed quite a capability to get into the Nation's presence in carry- 

 ing out this particular fimction. 



Other corps programs, physically located inland, have an important 

 influence on the coastal zone. Inland harbors and waterways feed the 

 coastal ports and form part of the complex waterborne transportation 

 system which moves a substantial part of our interstate and inter- 

 national commerce. 



Flood control programs on rivers that discharge into the oceans 

 involve the coastal zone because of the riverine interaction with shore, 

 littoral and tidal processes. 



Over the years, the coastal zone missions of the corps have grown 

 ever more sophisticated. Some of the current assignments that par- 

 ticularly illustrate this sophistication are the Atlantic-Pacific Inter- 

 oceanic Canal Studies, the comprehensive Chesapeake Bay investiga- 

 tion and model study, and the indepth study of San Francisco Bay. 



