agricultural non-point source pollution problem, which inciden¬ 
tally is now recognized as one of the very major villains in 
this whole system. The Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA 
showed us the restoration of the fisheries, and EPA demonstrated 
what it's doing to improve the water quality. So there is a 
role, an important role, for each of the stars in this drama. 
The States have come forward with very impressive roles. 
Maryland is starting a 5 year, 40 million dollar program to con¬ 
trol agriculturally related non-point source pollution. Last 
Friday a number of the members of Congress and the Governors of 
Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, and the Mayor of the Dis¬ 
trict of Columbia, met with Lee Thomas in a ceremony when EPA 
released the Chesapeake Bay Restoration and Protection Plan. I 
think it's the first and only comprehensive plan which shows 
what the States and what the District of Columbia and what the 
Federal agencies need to do and are doing to correct the pro¬ 
blems and outline a course for the future. 
The Bay Restoration Plan is, of course, one more step along 
a very torturous path of renewal that will take many years to 
complete. And there are a lot of pitfalls on this path. Last 
week we got around one by steering a devious course in the 
Senate. The budget had not provided for the Soil Conservation 
Service personnel to deal with the very important role that they 
can play on the overall plan. And we were able to prevail in 
the adoption of an amendent, which doesn't cost a great deal of 
money, but which does give us those all important spots in soil 
conservation to continue the work of that agency. 
We have to be very precise from this point on. We started 
out in the dark. We started out, in fact, worse than in the 
dark because we had some misconceptions. We were on the wrong 
track in some respects. But now we know a great deal more than 
we have ever known about the Chesapeake Bay, probably more than 
anyone has ever known about the Chesapeake Bay, probably more 
than anyone has ever known about any estuary. So we have to 
begin to be very precise. I think if we are precise and persis¬ 
tent we can look forward to the day when the major resources are 
back, perhaps not to that bountiful stage which Captain Gabriel 
Archer found in 1607, but maybe at least back to where they were 
at the beginning of the century. 
The Bay is, of course, a tremendous legacy from the past of 
this country and this continent. And it is such a remarkable 
system, the more you study it, the more you learn what its deni¬ 
zens are — the waterfowl, the fish, everything that lives on it 
and in it and around it — the more you understand how remark¬ 
able this system is and how it interrelates. 
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