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These studies and investigations are Federal-State, nmltiagency and 

 multidisciplinary. The involved fields include topography, geology, 

 hydrology, meteorology, oceanology, ecology, biology, hydraulics, aiul 

 economics. The planning of public works in the coastal zone today is 

 not simple, if indeed it ever was. 



Increasing sophistication demands increasing research effort and the 

 knowledge gained from research further increases sophistication. The 

 pattern is circular and endless. 



The corps is heavily committed in the research area. The Coastal 

 Engineering Research Center and the Waterways Experiment Station 

 are respected worldwide for their contributions to Imowledge of the 

 coastal zone. For example, the corps' technical report, "Shore Protec- 

 tion, Planning and Design," is the definitive text on this subject 

 internationally. 



Our Great Lakes Research Center is well known and respected by 

 users of the Great Lakes for its continuing research into the problems 

 unique to those great inland waters. Current research is looking into 

 such diverse matters as saline intrusion, energy transfer at the air- 

 water interface, spoil disposal effects, effects of construction activities 

 on the ecology of the coastal zone, ice cover distribution, littoral pro- 

 cesses, computer simulation of estuary behavior, wave generation, 

 propagation, and attenuation, dune stabilization, and many others. 



Corps navigation activities include the design, construction, opera- 

 tion, and maintenance of deep-draft commercial and fishing harbors, 

 with their appurtenant channels to the sea, shallow-draft recreational 

 harbors of refuge, and intracoastal shallow-draft channels for com- 

 mercial and recreational craft. 



In the interest of navigation, fish and wildlife, natural resources, 

 water quality, recreation, esthetics and the environment, the corps 

 issues permits for structures and for the performance of any construc- 

 tion work in the navigable waters of the United States. 



The corps is concerned with aquatic plant control, salinity intrusion 

 control, and major drainage of coastal marshes and swamps. It also 

 removes wrecks which interfere with general navigation and compiles 

 and disseminates information on waterborne commerce and ports. 



This is a slide of the corps' hopper dredge, the Harding. (Slide 

 shown.) It is one of the larger of 51 corps-owned dredges. Dredging 

 can affect the marine biota, both in the areas where dredging takeg 

 place and in the areas where the spoil is deposited. But the intensity 

 duration and areal extent of the effect require continued study. Two 

 major studies are in progress. 



One involves determination of the biological effects of the deposi- 

 tion of dredgings, sewer sludge and acid waste in New York Bight. 

 The corps, under its congTessional authorization to regulate certain 

 activities in navigable waters, is responsible for issuing dumping 

 permits. 



In a second study the corps with the valuable participation of 

 FWPCA and other agencies inside and outside of Interior, has nearly 

 concluded an $8 million, 2-3^ear pilot study of dredging operations in 

 the Great Lakes. This study, of course, is but one aspect of the overall 

 requirement to look at the Great Lakes region in a truly comprehen- 

 sive way. 



For example, the problem of eutrophication in Lake Erie cannot be 



