UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY
WASHINGTON 25, D. C.

January 28, 1963

Dear Mr. President:

We are pleased to advise you that the Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior have developed a new conservation policy to help implement the outdoor recreation program of the Administration.

We have reached agreement on a broad range of issues which should enable our Departments to enter into "a new era of cooperation" in the management of Federal lands for outdoor recreation. This agreement settles issues which have long been involved in public controversy, we have closed the book on these disputes and are now ready to harmoniously implement the agreed-upon solutions.

The decisions reached will do much to further development of Federal recreation resources, eliminate costly competition, promote cooperation, and recognize the major role that the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior both have in administering Federal lands under their jurisdiction for recreation purposes. We have agreed upon the following principles of cooperation.

1. Mutual recognition is accorded the distinctive administrative functions and land management plans used by the Forest Service and the National Park Service in administering lands under their jurisdiction.

2. Except for existing Administration proposals, those covered in our agreement, or routine boundary adjustments, jurisdictional responsibility will not be disturbed among the agencies of our two Departments which are managing and developing lands for public recreation.

3. Neither Department will initiate unilaterally new proposals to change the status of lands under jurisdiction of the other Department. Independent studies by one Department of lands administered by the other will not be carried on. Joint studies will be the rule.

4. Likewise, each Department, with the support and cooperation of the other, will endeavor to fully develop and effectively manage the recreation lands now under its administration.

In furtherance of the above principles of cooperation, and in recognition of the growing demand for outdoor recreation, we plan to recommend to you the establishment of two new Federally administered National Recreation Areas. These areas are planned to help meet existing and foreseeable outdoor recreation needs.

The Recreation Advisory Council, established by Executive Order 11017, has been considering the need for National Recreation Areas and criteria for their selection and establishment. We expect that the Recreation Advisory Council will soon recommend to you the creation of a limited system of National Recreation Areas along with criteria to guide their selection and establishment. The proposals for National Recreation Areas contained in this letter have been reviewed and are concurred in by the other members of the Recreation Advisory Council.

National Recreation Areas would be established only by Act of Congress and would be administered by the Department of the Interior, the Department of Agriculture, or other Federal agencies or departments having responsibility in outdoor recreation as may be recommended by the Executive Branch and determined by the Congress. National Recreation Areas would be administered primarily for recreation but with utilization of other resources permitted, provided such use is not incompatible with and does not unduly interfere with the basic recreation purpose. Advice of the Recreation Advisory Council will be sought with regard to qualification of particular areas, priority for establishment, and jurisdictional responsibility.

National Recreation Areas will be in addition to national parks, national monuments, or other special categories of land administered by the National Park Service, and to the wilderness system or other special categories of land having recreation significance now administered by the Forest Service. In our judgment as well as in the judgment of the other members of the Recreation Advisory Council, these two areas will conform fully with the National Recreation Area criteria, now in the final stages of formulation.

Subsequent to the adoption of these criteria, we shall recommend to you that the Administration submit legislation to establish:

1. Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area of about 280,000 acres in north central California. This area will consist of three-non-contiguous units, surrounding reclamation reservoirs. The areas around Shasta Lake and the Trinity-Lewiston Reservoirs are within the exterior boundaries of the Shasta-Trinity National Forests. These will be recommended for administration by the Forest Service. The 50,000 acre Whiskeytown unit lying outside the National Forest will be recommended for National Park Service administration.

2. The Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area in Wyoming and Utah. This is an area of about 160,000 acres lying upstream on the Green River from the Bureau of Reclamation dam under construction at Flaming Gorge within the Ashley National Forest in northeastern Utah. The two Departments have agreed that the 40,000 acre area within the National Forest boundary will be administered by the Forest Service, and the larger area of about 120,000 acres lying primarily in Wyoming and outside the National Forest boundary will be administered by the National Park Service.

We have agreed further that:

An Oregon Dunes National Seashore should be recommended consisting of about 35,000 acres primarily of sand dunes along the central Oregon coast. This land for the most part has been under the protection and management of the Forest Service. Administration would be by the National Park Service under the same criteria as for National Recreation Areas.

2. A joint study should be made of Federal lands in the North Cascade Mountains of Washington to determine the management and administration of those lands that will best serve the public interest. These lands for the most part have been under the administration of the Forest Service as national forests for many years. A study team should explore in an objective manner all the resource potentials of the area and the management and administration that appears to be in the public interest. The study team will consist of representatives of the two Departments and will be chaired by an individual jointly selected by us.

Recommendations of the study group will be submitted to us and we in turn will make our recommendations to you.

We believe these agreements represent a major improvement in National Conservation policy. We earnestly hope you will approve them.

Respectfully yours,

Secretary of Agriculture

Secretary of the Interior

THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON

January 31, 1963

Dear Mr. Secretaries:

I was greatly pleased by your joint letter describing the new conservation policy your Departments are adopting to help implement our outdoor recreation programs. This is an excellent statement of cooperation representing a milestone in conservation progress.

I know that there have been many vexing problems over the years in relationships between the Departments of Agriculture and Interior but your joint statement indicates that these are well on the way to resolution. This achievement in settling major jurisdictional issues between the two Departments, in outlining the principles of cooperation that will guide them in the future, and in proposing joint exploration of the North Cascade Mountains in Washington is most significant—it is clearly in the public interest.

Sincerely,

The Honorable Orville L. Freeman
The Secretary of Agriculture

The Honorable Stewart L. Udall
The Secretary of the Interior

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY
WASHINGTON

March 5, 1963

Mr. Edward C. Crafts, Director
Bureau of Outdoor Recreation
Department of the Interior
Washington 25, D.C.

Dear Ed:

On January 28, 1963, we jointly advised the President that the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture had developed a new conservation policy to help implement the outdoor recreation program of the Administration.

In our letter to the President we wrote:

"A joint study should be made of Federal lands in the North Cascade Mountains of Washington to determine the management and administration of those lands that will best serve the public interest. These lands for the most part have been under the administration of the Forest Service as National Forests for many years. A study team should explore in an objective manner all the resource potentials of the area and the management and administration that appears to be in the public interest. The study team will consist of representatives of the two Departments and will be chaired by an individual jointly selected by us.

"Recommendations of the study group will be submitted to us and we in turn will make our recommendations to you."

By this letter, you are being notified of your selection by us to be chairman of the study team. By copies of this letter to the other four members, two from the Department of Agriculture, and two from the Department of the Interior, we are notifying them of their selection. Members of the study team may draw on their assistants as needed, but are not privileged to designate alternates. In the event any presently designated member of the study team, including the chairman, is prevented from completing this assignment for reasons of health, or accident, or other unforeseen event, we will jointly name a successor.

The two members of the team representing the Department of the Interior are Henry Caulfield, Assistant Director, Resources Program Staff, and George Hartzog, Associate Director of the National Park Service. The two members representing the Department of Agriculture are George Selke, Consultant to the Secretary of Agriculture, and Arthur Greeley, Deputy Chief of the Forest Service.

We consider this matter of high priority and urge the Committee to initiate its studies promptly. Facilities, files, and records of both the National Park Service and the Forest Service, as well as other facilities of the two Departments, are hereby made available to you and other members of the study team.

Your Committee should handle this assignment in the way it deems best. We suggest, however, that as an initial step, agreement be reached on the specific area to be included in the study. Certainly there should be a review of past studies and recommendations, current use and management of the area, proposals for change, and an inventory and evaluation of all resource potentials, including a weighing of the economic and social impact of various alternatives.

Your report should include recommendations as to both management and administration, including jurisdictional responsibility. We recognize there may not be unanimous agreement among the study team, although we hope that agreement may be reached as to basic facts. If there is disagreement as to recommendations, we believe it would be appropriate for this dissent to be shown and recommendations of individual members of the team included where they differ from group viewpoint. It would be appropriate to include in your recommendations more than one action alternative.

There will be great interest in this study and the Committee may, in order to evaluate public opinion and obtain views and recommendations, find it desirable to hold public hearings. The citizens of the State of Washington will be greatly interested in this study. We ask that you arrange to receive from the Governor of the State of Washington a written statement setting forth the recommendations of the State.

We know that this is a complex, difficult and controversial assignment. We are most anxious that the recommendations of the study team be soundly based and in the interest of the people in the area, the State of Washington, the region, and the United States.

Because of the history and complex issues involved, we are not placing a deadline on the Committee for its report. We do urge, however, that you proceed with due deliberation and haste.

We believe that membership of the study team is the best that could be chosen and have every confidence in it. From time to time, we would like to have a progress report and we would be glad to consult with you and the team during the course of your studies as the occasion may arise.

Sincerely yours,

Secretary of the Interior

Secretary of Agriculture