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sanctuaries. The Federal share of the cost for each such sanctuary 

 could not exceed $2 million. 



As the result of two studies conducted by this Department and the 

 Stratton Commission report, this Administration recommended that 

 the 91st Congress enact legislation similar in concept to S. 582 and S. 

 638. We believed then, as we belieive now, that the finite resources of 

 our coastal and estuarine areas are threatened by population growth 

 and economic development. At the Federal level, tliis Department had 

 already been directed by the Estuary Protection Act of 1968 (82 Stat. 

 625, 16 U.S.C. 1221 et seq.) to conduct a study and inventory of the 

 Nation's estuaries. As wo reported to the Subcommittee on Ocean- 

 ography a year ago, it was a conclusion of our study and others tliat 

 effective management of land and water resources could best be pro- 

 moted by encouraging the States to acxiept a broadened responsibility 

 for land use planning and management. 



In its Frst Annual Eeport, the Council on Environmental Quality 

 last August recognized "a need to begin shaping a national land use 

 policy". In February of this year, the President urged that we "re- 

 form the institutional framework in which land use decisions are 

 made", and recommended enactment of a proposed "jSTational Land 

 Use Policy Act of 1971", now pending before the Senate as S. 992. It 

 is the President's proposal that $20 million be authorized in each of 

 the next five years to assist the States in establishing methods for 

 protecting lands, including the coastal zone and estuaries, of critical 

 environmental concern, methods for controlling large-scale develop- 

 ment, and improving use of land around key facilities and new com- 

 mimities. "This proposal", the President said, "will replace and ex- 

 pand my proposal submitted to tlie last Congress for coastal zone 

 management, while still giving priority attention to this area of the 

 counti-y which is especially sensitive to development pressures". 



Specificall}", S. 992 would authorize a two-phase program of grants 

 to be administered by ihQ Secretary of the Interior. In that cost-sharing 

 grants would be awarded both for program development and for pro- 

 gram management. S. 992 is similar to S. 582 and S. 638. The admin- 

 istration proposal differs from S. 582 and S. 638, however, with respect 

 to the scope of a State's planning activity and, indeed the number of 

 States eligible for assistance. To assure that coastal zone and estuarine 

 mxanagement receive the priority attention of coastal States, S. 992 

 would identify the coastal zones and estuaries as "areas of critical 

 environmental concern" and require that a State's land use program 

 include a method for inventorying and designating such areas. Further 

 the Secretary would be authorized to make grants for progi*am man- 

 agement only if State laws affecting land use in the coastal zone and 

 estuaries take into account (1) the aesthetic and ecological values of 

 Ayetlands for wildlife habitat, food production sources for aquatic 

 life, recreation, sedimentation control, and shoreland storm protection 

 and (2) the susceptibility of wetlands to permanent destruction 

 through draining, dredging, and filling, and the need to restrict such 

 activities. IMost important, perhaps, funds for program development 

 and management would be allocated to the States under reg-ulations 

 which must take into account the nature and extent of coastal zones 

 and estuaries. While S. 632 also anticipates the initiation of national 



