MAY 27, 1965
PAGE 11879
PROPOSED ADDITION TO THE NATIONAL WILD RIVERS SYSTEM AMENDMENT (AMENDMENT NO. 217)
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I submit for appropriate reference an amendment to S. 1446 the Wild Rivers Act. The effect of this amendment would be to add to the national wild rivers system State designated and administered wild river areas.
Inclusion of such nationally significant waterways, administered under State authority, would effectively bring the States into compatible partnership with the Federal Government. The preservation of selected rivers recommended by the Governors of the several States and the President and approved by the Congress would be enhanced and the national conservation purposes of the Wild Rivers Act thus furthered.
In submitting recommendations for State-administered wild river areas the Governor of the State would present to the President his recommendations for such inclusion in the national wild rivers system. His recommendations would be supported by a general plan which would assure the President and the Congress that the purposes of the act would be effected in perpetuity. The President would review State proposals and make known his recommendations to the Congress for legislative designation of the wild river area within the national wild rivers system.
Funds appropriated to the States from the land and water conservation fund would be made available to the State for the acquisition of property, rights, or easements necessary for the purposes of the act. Such authorization will provide the financial means of State action and is in full accord with the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act which we passed in the last Congress. This is a logical extension of the Federal-State-local partnership required in the "new conservation" advocated so eloquently by President Johnson for the preservation and restoration of natural beauty throughout our land.
In my State of Maine this approach will, I feel sure, ameliorate the deadlock between Federal and State interests for the preservation of that most beautiful and wondrous wilderness area, the Allagash River, the greatest such remaining area in the Eastern United States. I feel equally sure that many of my colleagues here will be cognizant of similar application within their own States where the preservation of scenic wilderness waterways is impeded by alternate positions in the States and the Federal bureaucracy, albeit that their end intentions are the same.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The amendment will be received, printed, and appropriately referred.
The amendment (No. 217) was referred to the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs.