975 



(f ) Special natural and scenic characteristics are being damaged by 

 ill-planned development that threatens these values ; 



(g) In light of competing demands and the urgent need to protect 

 and to give high priority to natural systems in the coastal zone, pres- 

 ent state and local institutional arrangements for planning and regu- 

 lating land and water uses in such areas are inadequate ; and 



(h) The key to more effective protection and use of the land and 

 water resources of the coastal zone is to encourage the states to exercise 

 their full authority over the lands and waters in the coastal zone by 

 assisting the states, in cooperation with Federal and local governments 

 and other vitally affected interests, in developing land and water use 

 programs for the coastal zone, including unified policies, criteria, 

 standards, methods, and processes for dealing with land and water use 

 decisions of more than local significance. 



DECLARATION OF POLICY 



Sec. 303. The Congress finds and declares that it is the national 

 policy (a) to preserve, protect, develop, and where possible, to restore 

 or enhance, the resources of the Nation's coastal zone for this and 

 succeeding generations, (b) to encourage and assist the states to exer- 

 cise effectively their responsibilities in the coastal zone through the 

 development and implementation of management programs to achieve 

 wise use of the land and water resources of the coastal zone giving full 

 consideration to ecological, cultural, historic, and esthetic values as 

 well as to needs for economic development, (c) for all Federal agencies 

 engaged in programs affecting the coastal zone to cooperate and par- 

 ticipate with state and local governments and regional agencies in 

 effectuating the purposes of this title, and (d) to encourage the par- 

 ticipation of the public, of Federal, state, and local governments and 

 of regional agencies in the development of coastal zone management 

 programs. With resnect to implementation of such management pro- 

 grams, it is the national policy to encourage cooperation among the 

 various state and regional agencies includinjr establishment of inter- 

 state and regional aijreements, cooperative procedures, and joint action 

 particularly regarding environmental problems. 



DEFINITIONS 



Sec. 304. For the purposes of this title — 



(a) "Coastal zone" means the coastal waters (including the lands 

 therein and thereunder) and the adjacent shorelands (including the 

 waters therein and thereunder), strongly infl'uenced by each other and 

 in proximity to the shorelines of the several coastal states, and includes 

 islands, transitional and intertidal areas, salt marshes, wetlands, and 

 beaches. The zone extends, in Great Lakes waters, to the international 

 boundary between the T"''nited States and Canada and, in other areas, 

 seaward to the outer limit of the TTnited Stat^^s territorial sea. The 

 zone extends inland from the shorelines only to the extent necessary 

 to control shorelands, the uses of which have a direct and significant 

 impact on the coastal waters. Fxcluded fi-om the coastal zone are lands 

 the use of which is bv law subiect solely to the discretion of or which 

 is held in trust by the Federal Government, its officers or agents. 



