When Lady Bird Johnson made her farewell tour of the country at the end of 1968, the aura of goodwill surrounding her was a tribute not only to a great First Lady but also to what she had come to symbolize in the public mind. Mrs. Johnson called it beautification—to the Public it perhaps involved more. Was it a sense that at a time when many values were questioned we still could strike out against ugliness—a kind of gut reaction that moved us, harried abroad and faced with intractable social problems at home, to protect the cherished land? Whatever it was, Congress responded with a remarkable outpouring of conservation legislation. Much of it had been under discussion for years. It is now law.
The shining jewel of this collection is the Redwood National Park. Less publicized, but of great importance, has been the recognition of the ecosystem concept in the legislation on rivers, estuaries, and hiking trails. In essence, this is an attempt to take into account the interdependencies of nature and of the decisions affecting natural areas to ensure that what we preserve is viable. And we intend to preserve a great deal.
One major enactment provides for the protection of wild and scenic rivers which possess "outstandingly remarkable" scenic, recreational, geologic, fish and wildlife, historic, cultural or other similar values. The National Wild Rivers and Scenic System will include streams of three different categories: (1) Wild Rivers—those with watersheds and shorelines essentially primitive, (2) Scenic Rivers—those still largely primitive but accessible in places by roads, and (3) Recreational Rivers —those readily accessible by road or railroad that may have some development along their shorelines and that may have undergone some impoundments or diversions in the past. The government is authorized to acquire land and easements of up to one-quarter mile on either side of the stream and to forbid dams or other developments on the wild and scenic rivers.
Initially, eight streams were selected for inclusion in the Wild and Scenic Rivers System. These were: the Middle Fork of the Clearwater, Idaho; Eleven Point, Missouri; the Feather in California; the Rio Grande in New Mexico; the Rogue River, Oregon; the St. Croix in Minnesota and Wisconsin; the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, Idaho; and the Wolf River in Wisconsin. In addition, sections of twenty-seven other streams or additional sections of those initially designated were selected for further study.
A somewhat similar concept was employed in the National Trails System Act. Basically, two objectives were sought: (1) a system of hiking trails readily accessible from the heavily populated urban areas to facilitate participation in hiking by urban dwellers, and (2) a national system of trails located so as to provide for "maximum outdoor recreation potential and for the conservation and enjoyment of the nationally significant scenic, historic, natural, or cultural qualities of the areas through which such trails may pass." Provision is also made for a system of tributary trails for access to the principal trails and to permit a variety of shorter excursion hikes. The 2,000-mile Appalachian Trail and the 2,350-mile Pacific Crest Trail were the first to be designated in the National Trails System, and fourteen other trails were named for study and possible future inclusion.
Yet another law has authorized the study and inventory of the nation's estuaries. Although restricted to study, it looks well beyond that; the purpose of the Act is to "provide the means for considering the need to protect, conserve and restore these estuaries in a manner that adequately and reasonably maintains a balance between the national need for such protection in the interest of conserving the natural resources and the natural beauty of the Nation and the need to develop these estuaries to further the growth and development of the Nation." The Secretary of the Interior is to report by January 1970 on the desirability of, and the terms and conditions for, establishing a nation-wide system of protected estuaries.
The timeliness and significance of this legislation, in the view of many scientists and resource managers, can scarcely be exaggerated. Many estuaries are polluted and related salt marshes are being filled for land development or used as dumps. The preservation of estuarine environments is essential for scientific research, variety in recreational pursuits, and for the production of elements of the food chain for the continental shelf fisheries. The new law is a first step and will rank among the most important of the conservation legislation.
In the state of Washington, the North Cascades National Park was organized out of existing national forests. Embracing about a half-million acres of "majestic mountain scenery, snow fields, glaciers, alpine meadows, and other unique natural features," the park also contains some potential mining claims that will create problems for park management. The Pasayten Wilderness and Glacier Peak Wilderness were also established as well as two national recreation areas, Ross Lake and Lake Chelan—alto-gether (park, wilderness, and recreation areas) a complex of about 1,200,000 acres in Washington.
There were other additions across the nation. In Oregon, the Mount Jefferson Wilderness of roughly 100,000 acres was designated. The San Rafael Wilderness and the San Gabriel Wilderness were established in California. In New Jersey, the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge Wilderness Area, a tiny area of 3,750 acres, was designated—a stratagem to provide stronger protection for the Wildlife Refuge against threats of commercial uses. Finally, the Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Wyoming and Utah was added as a national recreation area. With the river tamed by a dam, this canyon reservoir is likely to become a very popular recreation area.
In separate legislation, Congress authorized the extension of the Blue Ridge Parkway southward from Beech Gap, North Carolina, to Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, north of Atlanta, up to a cost of $87.5 million.
National monuments of historic, cultural or natural significance were provided in three separate pieces of legislation. Biscayne National Monument in Florida—"a rare combination of terrestrial, marine and amphibious life in a tropical setting of great natural beauty "—was given approval and $27 million was authorized for land acquisition. Other monuments include the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site in North Carolina and the Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site in Massachusetts.
The Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 sought to provide funds for outdoor recreation facilities from several sources: receipts from the Golden Eagle annual pass entitling purchasers to enter any federal recreation area, gas tax revenues from recreation power boats, and sales of surplus property. For a number of reasons the receipts from the sale of the Golden Eagle annual pass failed to produce the revenues anticipated, and the Fund did not attain the level sought. In 1968, Congress amended the Act, dropping the Golden Eagle program after 1970. In its place the law provides for direct appropriation as needed of up to $200 million annually for the Fund. This will double the money available over the next five years and greatly ease a funding problem which has afflicted this operation since its origin.
Sequoia Sempervirens It was the new Redwood National Park which attracted the most interest and the most controversy, and whose establishment possibly has the greatest portents for the future. The idea of such a national park and, more particularly, its boundaries have been the subject of heated controversy for several years. As passed, the Redwood National Park Act provides for 58,000 acres—less than the strong supporters wanted, more than the opponents wished to yield, but a compromise which received enough support to pass. The Act authorizes the acquisition oil 28,000 acres of private forest land and of three state parks which California is expected to donate to the federal government. Two features of the acquisition were notable.
The first involves the principle of exchange of federal land in order to acquire desired property. At the strong insistence of timber companies and local authorities, the Secretary of the Interior was authorized to exchange with private timber companies some 14,000 acres of federal land within the long-held Northern Redwood Purchase Unit of the Forest Service. This provision really placed many conservationists in a dilemma: vitally concerned to see a Redwood National Park established before some of the best redwood stands had been logged, they nevertheless disliked very much to see units of national forest land used in payment for acquisition of private land. Some within the forest industries have long advocated this procedure; e.g., when the federal government acquires land for a reservoir, they argue, it should yield land of equal value elsewhere rather than buy for cash. While it is true that land exchanges have been made by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management in the past, these agencies dislike seeing lands under their planned management traded off for other types of land. In light of this victory for the private interest viewpoint, it is highly probable that some who have sought this type of transaction in the past will press their case the harder when other federal land acquisitions are proposed.
The other feature of the Act act was a declaration by the Congress of "legislative taking;" the land designated was declared to be immediately federal land, subject to occupation and management by the National Park Service, to be paid for through the exchanges and through appropriated funds ($92 million authorized). Prices to be paid are fair appraised prices at the time of taking, plus interest at 6 percent for the period between then and actual payment. This latter provision was undoubtedly motivated by the desire of the Congress to avoid the kind of land price escalation which recently has plagued acquisitions for federal recreation areas. When in the past the Congress has passed legislation to acquire areas for specified recreation purposes, the appropriations committees have moved so slowly that land prices have risen, sometimes to quadruple the original estimate.
Assuming that the Redwood Act Withstands any court test (if, indeed, one can be or is made) and assuming that it commands sufficient political support, it does open up interesting possibilities for the future. If Congress can do this for the Redwood National Park, why can it not do the same thing for any other area added in the future? If the Congress can do it for federal land acquisitions, can state legislatures do it for state land acquisitions—and county councils for county land acquisitions, and city councils for city acquisitions? Would some sort of credit be arranged whereby landowners get their money promptly, the lender to be repaid by the public funds as these became available? How long an interval between "taking" and payment will courts and/or legislatures accept as reasonable? Many will be watching to see how far the Redwood Act sets a precedent.