The Nations River | Page 2

the Interior
The President The White House Washington, D.C.
Enclosure
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFICE OF
THE SECRETARY WASHINGTON, D.C. 20240
October 1, 1968
Dear Mr. Secretary:
Since early February 1965, when President Johnson asked you to
develop a program which would make the Potomac "a model of scenic
and recreation values", there has been a continuing joint effort to
achieve this exciting objective.
The Interdepartmental Task Force, which you and your fellow Cabinet
officers established, has coordinated the Federal effort. When the four
Basin State Governors and the Commissioner of the District of
Columbia acted to establish the Potomac River Basin Advisory

Committee, we had a genuine opportunity to achieve useful and
effective Federal-State cooperative relationships. As you know, our two
groups have worked together in a cordial and productive way.
We have listened carefully to the views of individual citizens and
citizen groups in a real effort to sense the needs and aspirations of the
people who live in the valley and the millions who visit our Nation's
Capital and the historic and beautiful Potomac valley. Publication of an
Interim Report two years ago proved to be a useful means for obtaining
citizen participation.
This report summarizes a series of studies made in response to the
President's directive. Although it is our final report, we urge that it be
looked upon as the next step in a continuing planning process. It points
to action to meet present and near-term needs and to the desirability of
continued planning to provide sound bases for the further resource-use
decisions which citizens of the Basin will be called upon to make as
those decisions become more timely.
The body of the report is a Department of the Interior document,
couched whenever possible in nontechnical language in the hope that it
may find a wide lay readership. The program for action, which
constitutes the final chapter, is concurred in by the Federal agencies on
the Interdepartmental Task Force. Comments of the Potomac River
Basin Advisory Committee are set forth in the attached letter from its
Chairman, Mr. James J. O'Donnell. Responsibility for leadership in
proceeding with the proposed actions is identified, as appropriate, to
specific Federal agencies, States or local governmental entities.
Other reports have been or will be issued which form integral parts of
this endeavor. These include the following:
Potomac Interim Report to the President--January 1966 ... The Creek
and The City--Urban Pressures on a Natural Stream--Rock Creek Park
and Metropolitan Washington--January 1967 ... The Potomac--The
Report of the Potomac Planning Task Force--Assembled by the
American Institute of Architects--September 1967 ... Report of the
Chief of Engineers, United States Army Corps of Engineers, Potomac

River Basin, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and the
District of Columbia (This report, now in the process of official review,
will provide a basis for action on water supply and related matters.)
In addition to the published documents, each of the four Sub-Task
Forces established by the Interdepartmental Task Force prepared
reports which constituted invaluable working documents on several
aspects of Potomac Basin planning. These include the following:
Report of the Water Supply and Flood Control Sub-Task Force ...
Report of the Water Quality Sub-Task Force ... Report of the
Sedimentation and Erosion Sub-Task Force ... Report of the Recreation
and Landscape Sub-Task Force.
Copies of these working documents will be distributed to concerned
local, State and Federal agencies and will be on file in those offices.
You will note particularly that the attached report emphasizes the
urgent need for a continuing and broadly based planning effort. If we
are to fully achieve the objective of making the Potomac a model, and
we must, resource planning and management must mobilize the
authorities and the skills of the Federal Government, the States, the
local jurisdictions and the citizens. I am convinced that the Potomac
Basin needs:
... an alert, active, basinwide citizen organization with the perspective
to see the area's total needs and the determination to make certain that
action is taken to meet those requirements;
... a formally established relationship between the various levels of
government to continue comprehensive planning--and to make certain
that action at all levels is consistent with the established objectives.
Sincerely yours,
[signature]
Kenneth Holum Assistant Secretary

Honorable Stewart L. Udall, Secretary Department of the Interior
Washington, D.C. 20240
Enclosure

POTOMAC RIVER BASIN ADVISORY COMMITTEE 1025
VERMONT AVENUE, N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005
MARYLAND PENNSYLVANIA VIRGINIA WEST VIRGINIA
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
September 15, 1968
Dear Mr. Holum,
The Potomac River Basin Advisory Committee was pleased to have the
opportunity to review the recommendations compiled by the Federal
Interdepartmental Task Force for inclusion in the forthcoming Report
to the President. These recommendations represent the culmination of
intensive studies in the areas of water supply and flood control, water
quality, sedimentation and erosion, and landscape