tion. Equally important, priority fixing helps meet the land price escalation problem by avoiding premature authorization of areas and a stretched-out rate of land acquisition due to lack of adequate funds.

Section 1(b) of S. 1401 authorizes certain Federal agencies, within limitations prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, to contract for the acquisition of property within the areas specified in section 6(a) (1) of the Fund Act during Fiscal Years 1968 and 1969 in advance of the actual appropriation of moneys by the Congress from the Fund. Such contracts for all Federal agencies concerned may not exceed a total of more than $30 million for each of the 2 fiscal years. The section will enable the National Park Service, the Forest Service, and the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife to plan and negotiate land purchase contracts as soon as new recreation areas are authorized.

The need for such contract authority has been evident for several years. Land price escalation is most rapid at the time just before and after authorization of a national park or recreation area by the Congress. The progress of a national park or recreation area authorization bill through Congress is followed by the public, including real estate developers and land speculators. As a bill nears enactment, the public becomes increasingly aware of the Government's firm interest in property acquisition in the area. After authorization, land values continue to rise although funds have yet to be appropriated for property acquisition.

At twelve recently authorized Federal recreation areas there was an average lapse of about 2 years between the time a bill was first introduced in the Congress and its enactment, and an average lapse of about 3 years from introduction of a bill to the first appropriation of funds by the Congress for property acquisition after its enactment. The average time from enactment of a bill to the first appropriation of funds for property acquisition was about 9 months.

If acquiring agencies were authorized to enter into land purchase contracts at such areas immediately after authorization instead of having to wait an average of about 9 months for the appropriation of funds, as is now the case, substantial money would be saved. These savings would be accomplished by acquiring prime tracts before most price escalation could occur. Such procedure would have a further value in that these key purchases would establish a price pattern that would help in future negotiations. If prime tracts have been purchased at a reasonable price per acre, such action would be a factor considered by appraisers in valuing other tracts.

In an effort to prevent land price escalation at newly authorized areas, the Department requested from the Congress a $5 million appropriation for Fiscal Year 1968 for advance land acquisition planning and for purchase of selected tracts before regular funds are appropriated for the newly authorized areas. The Congress, however, allowed only $2 million for this purpose in the Department's 1968 Appropriation Act. Most of this money will go for advance planning, and the total involved will not accomplish the purpose of the $30 million contract authority provided by section 1(b) of the bill.

We are of course aware of the fact that contract authorizations are normally not favored by the Appropriations Committees and the Bureau of the Budget, but that exceptions have been made. The availabality of such authority would be extremely useful in helping overcome land price escalation.

We recommend the following amendment of section 1(b) of the bill: On page 2, lines 16-17, delete "fiscal years 1968 and 1969" and substitute "fiscal years 1969 and 1970" to accord with the fiscal year beginning after the probable date of enactment of the bill.

Section 2(a) of S. 1401 permits the Secretary of the Interior, with respect to any property he acquires within a unit of the National Park System, to leaseback or sell-back the property subject to such terms and conditions as will assure its use in a manner that, in his judgment, in consistent with the purpose for which the area was authorized by the Congress. The conveyance of an interest under this section will be to the highest bidder, in accordance with such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, but at not less than the fair market value of the interest. If, however, the Secretary decides to convey such interest within 2 years after he acquired the property, the bill requires that the last owner of record be given an opportunity to acquire such interest by matching the highest bid.

Under section 2(a) of the bill the land acquired for national park and recreation areas, which is not needed for public facilities or actual public use, could be returned to private ownership or use with the assurance that the land will not be used in a manner detrimental to the park or recreation area. The sell-back and lease-back transactions will enable the Federal Government to recoup funds spent initially for land acquisition and return them to the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Under such transactions the Federal Government will receive the benefit from the increase in the fair market value of the land after its acquisition. As a preliminary estimate, we believe the sell-back program may yield from 40 to more than 100 percent of the initial acquisition cost. Lease-back transactions should yield from 4 to 7 percent of the initial land acquisition cost per year.

The language of the printed bill requires the Secretary, in exercising the leaseback and sell-back authority, to allow the last owner of record an opportunity to match the highest bid price. A number of persons, however, may have been the former owners of either individual portions of the property or of undivided interests therein. In such cases the Secretary will need authority to prescribe by regulation procedures for an equitable division of the property, as well as authority to impose time limits within which the payments for the property must be made. The language of the printed bill does not require a former owner to pay for the property within any specified period of time.

We recommend, therefore, the following perfecting amendment of section (2) of the bill:

On page 3, line 18, after "owner" insert "or owners"; on line 19, change "he is" to "they are"; on line 21, change "owner wishes" to "owners wish"; and on line 23, after "person" insert "or persons, in accordance with such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe,".

Section 2(b) of S. 1401, which authorizes the exchange of certain Federal property for certain non-Federal property, is intended to provide the Secretary of the Interior with another tool to avoid the land price escalation problem. Exhanges do not lessen the economic cost of acquisition, although they do reduce the money amounts needed to be appropriated for acquisition and they can be effected in advance of appropriations for the project. The section as written, however, would not be of substantial value because it authorizes only the exchange of Federal property located within the boundaries of the park unit involved. There is a limited amount of Federal property within a park boundary that could be utilized for exchange purposes.

It should be understood that the narrow language of this section does not restrict the specific authority granted for individual park system units. See, for example, the Act of September 21, 1965 (79 Stat. 824), authorizing the Assateague Island National Seashore; the Act of March 10, 1966 (80 Stat. 33), authorizing the Cape Lookout National Seashore; and the Act of October 15, 1966 (80 Stat. 922), authorizing the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

Section 2(b) contains an ambiguity which should be removed if the section is retained in its present form. The authority to convey Federal property in exchange for private property should be restricted to Federal property under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior. This can be made clear by the following amendment:

On page 4, line 7, after "therein" insert "under his jurisdiction".

The Bureau of the Budget has advised that there is no objection to the presentation of this report, and that enactment of S. 1401, if amended as recommended herein, would be consistent with the Administration's objectives.

Sincerely yours,

STEWART L. UDALL, Secretary of the Interior.

ESTIMATED OUTDOOR RECREATION OUTLAYS FROM AND REVENUES TO THE LAND AND WATER CONSERVATION FUND, FISCAL YEAR 1965-73

[S. 2828, 90th Cong., second sess.]

A BILL To amend the River and Harbor Act of 1965 to prohibit certain fees from being charged in connection with projects admistered by the Secretary of the Army

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the River and Harbor Act of 1965 is amended by redesignating section 315 as section 316 and adding immediately following section 314 the following new section:

"SEC. 315 (a) No fee or charge shall be collected or received under authority of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965, or any other provision of law for entrance, admission, or access to the project area (including the waters), or for the use of minimum recreational facilities as determined by the Secretary of the Army, at such project area, of any project administered by the Secretary of the Army acting through the Chief of Engineers.

"(b) Neither the Secretary of the Army nor any other officers or employee of th United States shall collect or receive any fee or charge for the issuance of any permit or license for any boat mooring or docking facility, duck blind, ski-jump float, swimming or diving platform or raft, or any other similar floating facility on any of the waters of any project administered by the Secretary of the Army acting through the Chief of Engineers. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to prohibit the Secretary of the Army from requiring a permit or license for any such boating facility."

Hon. HENRY M. JACKSON,

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, Washington, D.C., January 30, 1966.

Chairman, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs,
U.S. Senate.

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Here is the report of this Department on S. 2828, "Το amend the River and Harbor Act of 1965 to prohibit certain fees from being charged in connection with projects administered by the Secretary of the Army."

We recommend that this bill not be enacted.

S. 2828 would amend the River and Harbor Act of 1965 by adding a new section 315 concerning charges for recreation use of Corps of Engineers project areas. Section 315 (a) would prohibit the collection or receipt of fees or charges under the authority of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965, or any other provision of law for entrance, admission, or access to the project area, including the waters or any project administered by the Secretary of the Army acting through the Chief of Engineers. It also would prohibit collection or receipt of fees or charges for the use of minimum recreational facilities as determined by the Secretary of the Army at such project areas.

Section 315(c) would prohibit collection of any fee or charge for issuance of any permit or license for floating facilities such as boat docks, duck blinds, skijumps and swimming and diving platforms or rafts on any waters of such projects. However, the Secretary of the Army would not be prohibited from requiring a permit or license for any such floating facility.

The Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 authorized the President to provide for the establishment of entrance, admission, and user fees at designated Federal recreation areas on lands administered by the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Sports Fisheries and Wildlife, Bureau of Reclamation, Corps of Engineers, Tennessee Valley Authority, the United States Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission (United States and Mexico), and the Forest Service of this Department. Under Executive Order 11200, the areas designated for collection of fees in 1965 included all those lands administered by these agencies on which fees were collected during any part of 1964.

Executive Order 11200 also provided for designation of areas for the years after 1965, criteria for designation of areas, establishment of fees, coordination, and for other matters pertinent to administration of the recreation program. The Secretary of the Interior was instucted to adopt such regulations and coordination measures as are necessary to carry out the provision of the Order after consultation with the heads of other affected departments and agencies.

Under present law and regulations, areas where fees are to be charged must meet the following conditions. They must (1) be administered by any of the agencies listed above; (2) be administered primarily for scenic, scientific, historical, cultural, or recreation purposes; (3) have recreation facilities or services provided at Federal expense; and (4) be of such nature that fee collection is practical.

Enactment of S. 2828 apparently would exclude practically all recreation areas administered by the Corps of Engineers from fees charged under authority of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 or any other provisions of law.

If recreational uses of these areas are to be made available to the public at no charge, such policy would seem to be a departure from that established under recent legislation and would tend to weaken current efforts toward achieving a coordinated national program of public outdoor recreation.

In accordance with the Executive Order referred to above, the Secretary of the Interior adopted regulations and coordination measures to carry out the purposes of Sections 2(a) and 4(a) of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965, and the provisions of the Order itself. It seems to us that these measures permit sufficient flexibility to develop a management system for projects administered by the Corps of Engineers in conformance with their characteristics and capabilities. In the event that areas do not meet the criteria for designation under the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965, no fees are to be charged. Similarly, if areas do meet the criteria, fees are to be charged for admission to, or use of, an area. Such charges would be selected from a schedule of fees in consideration of the nature of facilities, equipment, services available, and other pertinent factors.

The Bureau of the Budget advises that there is no objection to the presentation of this report from the standpoint of the Administration's program. Sincerely yours,

Hon. HENRY M. JACKSON,

ORVILLE L. FREEMAN.

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, Washington, D.C., January 29, 1968.

Chairman, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs,
U.S. Senate.

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Reference is made to your request for the views of the Department of the Army with respect to S. 2828, 90th Congress, a bill "To amend the River and Harbor Act of 1965 to prohibit certain fees from being charged in connection with projects administered by the Secretary of the Army."

This bill would amend the River and Harbor Act of 1965 (79 Stat. 1089) so as to prohibit the charging of any fee, under the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (78 Stat. 897) for access to, or use of minimum recreational facilities of, any project administered by the Secretary of the Army. This prohibition is assumed not to apply to fees collected by State or local interests in the administration of project areas which have been leased to them. This bill would also prohibit the charging of a fee for the issuance of any permit or license for any boat mooring or docking facility, duck blind, ski-jump float, swimming or diving platform or raft, or any other similar floating facility on any of the waters of any project administered by the Secretary of the Army. The Secretary would not, however, be prohibited from requiring a permit or license for any such floating facility.

The Department of the Army is opposed to the bill.

With regard to the first prohibition, prior to 1965, consistent with the provisions of Section 4 of the Flood Control Act of 1944, as amended, such fees were not charged at water resources development projects administered by the Department of the Army. The Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965, provided for the charging of such fees. This Act was supplemented by Executive Order 11200, which authorized the Federal agency heads to impose entrance and user charges beginning April 1, 1965. The President delegated to the Secretary of the Interior the responsibilities of establishing a recreation fee schedule, with each agency head empowered, within the limits of the schedule, to fix specific charges at each designated area.

The Act provides for an integrated, coordinated program which involves every Federal agency with any significant responsibilities in the field of public recreation. Its general purpose the improvement of outdoor recreational possibilities