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Show In light of the Commission recommendations that a major part of the remaining unappropriated public domain lands be retained in Federal ownership, Forest Service programs should be under the same policy direction as the other major class of multiple-use lands. Other aspects of public land administration also support this position. The Bureau of Land Management administers mineral and surveying programs on the national forests and, under present policies, the Secretary of the Interior is responsible for the operation of the withdrawals program on national forests reserved from the public domain. Direct program relationships such as these provide a strong rationale for merging the Forest Service with the Department of the Interior. Another good reason for this merger is that the Forest Service would make a substantial contribution to Interior programs. Along with its outstanding skills in effective administrative management of a large institution involved in public land management, the Forest Service would bring a long history of research and cooperative programs with states and private landowners. Interior is not strong in either area in relation to public land programs. The overall strength of the public land programs in the Department would be increased if it had a solid program in land management research. Elsewhere in this report we have recommended that research on environmental quality management of the public lands be intensified. The existing Forest Service research program, if merged with Department of the Interior public land programs, would be the logical place to assign these new research activities. In a similar manner, the cooperative forestry programs of the Forest Service could serve as a focal point for effecting the kind of cooperation with the states that the Commission recommends. For example, we have recommended that Congress provide financial assistance to public land states to aid in planning. The experience gained in cooperative forestry programs that have involved financial assistance to the states for forest fire control and forest management could be helpful in initiating a program of assistance in planning. After the merger of the Forest Service with the Department of the Interior, we recommend that the Secretary review public land programs of the Department and report to Congress on organizational consolidations that can be made for their administration. We have noted the many differences in policies and practices among public land programs and the inefficiencies that arise because of them. Merger of the Forest Service with the Department of the Interior opens the door to shifts in responsibilities within the new Department in the interest of greater program efficiency. For example, cnanges in management responsibility for some lands and the assignment of major responsibility for particular kinds of programs would be possible. Many of the needed changes can be made by the Secretary of the new department, but some would require congressional action. In any case the Congress should be kept informed of proposed and actual changes because of its overall responsibility for the public lands. The Secretary should give particular attention to the opportunities for consolidating in a single bureau the management of lands not designated by law for a primary use. Such a consolidation would minimize the need for other adjustments in responsibilities such as the transfer of lands among agencies that is now needed to simplify land management. The Secretary should also give consideration to providing to the greatest possible extent an organizational focus for public land programs within the new department. At the present time, in the Department of the Interior, responsibilities for public land programs are spread among three assistant secretaries. We believe that some consolidation is possible in the assignment of these responsibilities. Furthermore, responsibility for mineral programs is now scattered within the Department. In Chapter Eleven we recommend that programs for regulating activities on the Outer Continental Shelf be consolidated to the maximum extent feasible. Within the Department of the Interior, OCS minerals functions are now divided primarily between the Geological Survey, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration. Until such time as Outer Continental Shelf programs government-wide are consolidated in a single agency, we believe consideration should be given to consolidating existing Interior programs within the new department of natural resources. This would bring together the responsibility for supervision of mineral production operation with those for mineral leasing and environmental management on the Shelf. Policies and practices for the management and use of the public lands should generally be the same for all lands and agencies. We believe that, to the extent possible, the policies and practices guiding the management and use of commodities on the public lands and the administration of public land programs should be the same, regardless of the origin of the class of lands in Federal ownership or agencies involved. Throughout this report, we recommend changes in specific policies and practices that we think will make public land policy more consistent and relevant to modern conditions. Flexibility is important, of course, and the desire for consistency should not stand in the way of needed change. But 283 |