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Show "on man's environment." Thus, they provide a statutory basis to bring environmental quality into planning and decisionmaking wherever gaps exist in previous laws, even though an agency may have to obtain additional legislative authority before taking final action. As studies prepared for the Commission have revealed, land management agencies have little, if any, statutory guidance, but have developed administratively a plethora of objectives and directives to promote consideration of esthetics, wildlife, and related values. Even so, definitions, criteria, and standards for environmental quality lack operational meaning. Air and water quality standards, where applicable, appear to be the only standards that have been defined specifically enough to be reviewed and monitored. Others often must be identified and defined at the lowest level of management and applied on an ad hoc basis. Our recommendations are based on a comprehensive review of existing Federal laws and administrative practices affecting environmental quality in the management of public lands. The President has required that a review and report from public land agencies on the environmental aspects of their programs be completed and submitted to the Council of Environmental Quality by September 1, 1970. Together with our report, this action should provide a fully adequate basis for early implementation of needed changes. Within the general framework of the broad policy goals and guidelines of the recent environmental policy acts, we recommend specific environmental goals for the public lands and, in addition to authority necessary to implement them, improved planning directives and mechanisms and stricter control techniques over various land uses. In this chapter we treat generally with the broader principles underlying our recommendations on environmental matters. More specific implementing recommendations are contained in subsequent chapters that deal with individual subjects and commodities, and that provide a more meaningful context for their understanding. Environmental Goals Recommendation 16: Environmental quality should be recognized by law as an important objective of public land management, and public land policy should be designed to enhance and maintain a high quality environment both on and off the public lands. In one sense, broad administrative discretion for environmental management recognizes the great variation from place to place in environmental con- 68 ditions, the variation in regional desires concerning environmental quality, and the realities of management programs. Many of the effects of good, or bad, public land management are quite localized, although some environmental effects occur far from their origin. In another sense, however, the public lands are great national assets that deserve protection from degradation, regardless of the specific local conditions. It is in this latter sense that the need for national goals and standards becomes apparent. We believe that the existing uncertainty as to the long-term effects of land use on the ability of the ecosystem to meet future demands is of national importance. The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, cited above, establishes highly desirable national goals for environmental quality. It establishes a national policy to "encourage productive and enjoyable harmony between man and his environment; to promote efforts which will prevent or eliminate damage to the environment and biosphere and stimulate the health and welfare of man to enrich the understanding of the ecological systems and natural resources important to the Nation . . ." In addition, it makes it the responsibility of the Federal Government to take certain actions so as to meet a set of six general goals.5 But this Act does not provide goals that are sufficiently specific as guides for action on public lands. The Federal Government, after all, does have direct control over the public lands and their use. The people of the country should be given a clear idea of the kind of environment to be maintained on these lands, and the Federal actions proposed to assure that environment. The Federal policy structure for maintaining and enhancing environmental quality on the public lands is uneven and contains broad gaps. We have found that the clearest expressions of policy concern the national parks and wilderness areas, which are set aside to protect an existing environment. For other kinds of lands, where various uses of the land and its resources are permitted, we have generally found a lack of clear policy direction.0 We have also noted that much of the concern expressed in the existing environmental policies for public lands deals with scenery and the protection of certain kinds of ecosystems. The recent laws provid- 5 In addition we note that the Federal Water Pollution Control Act declares its purpose to be "to enhance the quality and value of our water resources and to establish a national policy for the prevention, control, and abatement of water pollution." 33 U.S.C. § 466 (a) (Supp. IV, 1965-68). The Air Quality Act of 1967 states as its objectives, among others, "to protect and enhance the quality of the Nation's air resources so as to promote the public health and welfare and the productive capacity of its population." 42 U.S.C. § 1857(b(l)) (Supp. IV,1965-68). 6 Ira M. Heyman and Robert H. Twiss, Legal and Administrative Framework for Environmental Management of the Public Lands. PLLRC Study Report, 1970. |