1195 
5. Expanded research on the Arctic environment. 
In regard to No. 1, the coastal counties of the United States, includ- 
ing those counties bordering the Great Lakes, presently contain more 
than 40 percent of the Nation’s population and less than 10 percent of 
the land area. We expect that this concentration of population in the 
coastal areas will increase in the future. 
The amounts of land and water in these coastal! zones will, however, 
remain constant and the pressure of multiple use will become ever 
more difiicult to manage. The growth of activity in our coastal zones 
has been truly astonishing—far exceeding the relative population 
growth. 
We are all aware also of the growth in recreational activities, private 
boating, commercial shipping, sport and commercial fishing, offshore 
oul production, and onshore industrial development. All of this growth 
must be accommodated in an area which is fixed in size. Hence, con- 
flict in purpose inevitably arises. One man’s beneficial development is. 
another man’s degradation. 
The growing problems of pollution, accelerated erosion, silting,. 
and ecological damage have been brought forcibly to our attention 
both in the Great Lakes and in the coastal areas. 
From a technical point of view we do not know how to solve all of 
these problems. But we do know how to solve some of them and we: 
certainly should improve management techniques to reduce the multi- 
ple-use conflicts as well as to anticipate difficulties before they over- 
whelm us. 
At an appropriate time legislative proposals will be submitted to. 
the Congress to establish policy objectives for the development of 
coastal areas and to authorize a Federal-State matching grant pro- 
gram that will assist States in development of planning and regula- 
tory mechanisms. This program together with its supporting legisla- 
tion should contribute to sensible use of land and water resources in 
such a way that damage to the ecology is minimized and the need and 
wishes of the people who live, work, and play there are fully 
represented. 
Federal assistant grants are anticipated for initial development 
of appropriate planning and regulatory mechanisms and support of 
the Government’s role as a partner in managing these important 
regions. 
Even these first steps will not be easy. The coastal zones, estuaries, 
and the Great Lakes are already the focus of many conflicting and. 
overlapping authorities. More than merely erecting a new manage- 
ment mechanism, the planning and regulatory mechanisms should 
serve as a link between the various authorities and jurisdictions within 
the coastal zone, with the States of the region being encouraged to take 
the lead to deal with their own regional problems. 
The second of the priority programs is the establishment of coastal 
laboratories. As I have already said, we do not know how to solve many 
of these problems and research is essential. This project, therefore, 
is intimately related with the coastal-zone problems I have just 
discussed. 
Considerable attention has been drawn by the Commission report. 
and by its backup documents to the similar problems in the coastal 
zone and in the Great Lakes, but these problems also exhibit signfi-. 
26-563—70—pt. 244 
