The Nation's River: A report on the Potomac / From the U.S. Department of the Interior

by United States. Department of the Interior

5. The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers should continue to regulate the development of structures built into the navigable waters and, in cooperation with local entities, study means of ridding the Potomac estuary of permanent and semipermanent debris and floating debris.

6. To guard against the loss of public assets of great worth along the estuary, the General Services Administration, in cooperation with the Department of the Interior, should give full consideration to recreation, fish and wildlife, scenic and other conservation values at the time any Federal installation becomes surplus to defense of other needs.

D. State fish and wildlife conservation agencies in the Basin need to strengthen their programs if hunting and fishing opportunities are to meet the growing demand and if the broad spectrum of wildlife essential to a healthy landscape is to be maintained:

1. High priority and ample funds should be assigned to the improvement and development of wildlife habitat throughout the Basin, and special attention paid to the stimulation of good hunting and fishing opportunity on private lands.

2. Research and management programs of the fish and wildlife agencies are vital, and need expansion based in broad public support and adequate funding.

E. National Forest lands are the most massive scenic, ecological, and recreational asset in public ownership in the Basin, and Forest Service programs have beneficial effects far beyond the National Forests' limits. Action specifically relating to these lands and programs is vital to landscape protection and recreational development, and should involve the following:

1. To preserve the natural beauty of the North and South Forks of the Shenandoah River above their confluence, to assure public access, to provide for development and public use of the recreational potential of the streams, mountains, and forests in this area and conservation of its watersheds and natural resources, a National Recreation Area should be established, to be administered by the Secretary of Agriculture and to be comprised of the existing Massanutten Unit of the George Washington National Forest and such adjacent areas as may be needed to accomplish the purposes enumerated above.

2. Development of the Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area, designated by Congress in 1965, should be accelerated.