1. Studies are already well advanced toward the definition of needs for recreation and scenic motoring tied in with the existing George Washington Memorial Parkway, Skyline Drive, and Blue Ridge Parkway. They should be completed and implemented when feasible in consultation with the Department of Transportation. A route that warrants equal consideration would be the extension of the George Washington Memorial Parkway from Mount Vernon to Yorktown as recommended in the Potomac Interim Report to the President.
2. A Basinwide system of trails for hiking, bicycling, and horseback travel has been studied and its details are presented in a separate report. This compatible and organic means of putting town and city people in touch with the natural environment and the countryside is an indispensable element of a full recreational program for the Basin, and it is strongly to be hoped that the establishment of the Potomac Heritage Trail along the river and the protection of the ridgeline Appalachian Trail—the two trunk elements of the system—will be promptly achieved under the legislation recently acted upon by the Congress.
G. Some of the most basic beauty of the Potomac Basin is found in its older towns and its inhabited countryside, where centuries of history are reflected in structures, historic sites, and types of land use. To protect this beauty and richness against unnecessary destruction and degradation, vigorous action is indicated:
1. The Basin States should consider the possibility of utilizing their State Historical Survey Commissions not only to designate and protect significant townscapes and rural landscapes as historical districts, but also to monitor encroachments and inappropriate construction affecting esthetic and associative values at or near historic sites. State legislation to restrict the exercise of eminent domain by utility companies for pipelines and transmission line routes in such areas is highly desirable.
2. If the Basin's traditional farms are to be preserved not only for their beauty and as open space near towns and cities but as an element in the economic health of the region, action at all levels of government will be needed. Tax relief as a tool to encourage continued farming on land in danger of urban development needs to be utilized more widely by counties. Programs should be developed that will help preserve the contribution that farms make to the life and landscape of the Basin. Imaginative new approaches are mandatory if there is to be any hope of coping with this problem.
H. At all levels of government also, a concerted effort must be made to clean up junk, spoil, and debris inherited from misuses of the past and to prevent new accumulations. Over 10,000 acres of surface-mined lands need reclamation, thousands of junked cars mar the landscape, and trash and litter clutter the land and streams. Existing programs must be accelerated and new ones devised. Legislation now before the Congress would establish a cooperative Federal-State program to regulate surface mining operations and to assure the reclamation of areas mined in the future. In addition, it is imperative that Basin Federal and State installations promulgate regulations to prevent accumulations of junk and debris on their lands.
III. To help ensure that future planning and action in relation to the Potomac Basin's water resources, water-related land resources, and amenities shall proceed in a wise and coordinated manner, we recommend:
A. That citizens of the Basin interested in its overall well-being give serious thought of joining together in a broad-based organization to promote all aspects of that well-being by public education, discussion, monitoring abuses, pressing for good local planning and land use, and reviewing proposals for environmental action in the Basin.
B. That the Federal and State governments continue their efforts to define and establish appropriate institutional arrangements for the management and operation of this Potomac Basin program and the furtherance of its principles of protection, preservation, good water management and flexibility. The Potomac River Basin Compact, as proposed in draft form by the Potomac River Basin Advisory Committee, is receiving careful consideration by Federal agencies and citizens, anticipating consideration by State legislative bodies, and the Congress of the United States.