OCR Text |
Show the Advisory Council, and the Representatives of the 50 Governors. Completed in May as a blueprint for the accomplishment of the Commission's task, it was transmitted to you by letter dated June 1, 1966. A copy is attached for ready reference as Attachment No. 2. In May 1966, plans were completed for the first of a series of meetings throughout the country designed to hear from people who live in and near public land areas in order to obtain their suggestions as to specific matters that required Commission attention. That meeting was held in Salt Lake City, Utah, June 7 and 8, 1966. It was followed by meetings throughout the country in 9 additional regions, as listed on Attachment No. 3. In conjunction with these regional meetings, tours of public land areas were arranged for Commissioners and members of the official family in attendance, so that we could see on the ground different types of areas and how they were utilized by people who live there. The diversity in type and use of the public lands was thus demonstrated. During the course of these meetings, suggestions were obtained from over 900 witnesses whose ideas concerning matters that required attention were made part of our research program for study and Commission consideration. Although the scope of the subjects to be included in the research program had not yet been made final, the first formal study was undertaken in June 1966, when Professor Paul Wallace Gates of Cornell University was retained as a consultant to prepare a History of Public Land Law Development. Subsequently, we retained Professor Robert W. Swenson of the University of Utah to prepare the chapter on mineral law development. At the meeting of the Advisory Council in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on November 10, 1966, we announced 25 individual studies on public lands and their resources. This list was later expanded to 34 and then, after two were combined, resulted in a list of 33 subjects concerning which separate manuscripts were being written. It was always our idea that most of the individual studies would be accomplished under contract and this was done, but several were accomplished in-house by our own staff, some with consultant assistance. Attachment No. 4 lists all of the subjects together with statements concerning the Commission's policy relative to access to and publication of these manuscripts, indicating those that are available for purchase by the public at this time. It is planned that all manuscripts will be available. Identifying individual subjects for studies did not mean that we lost sight of the basic concept of the Commission, i.e., the necessity for one group at one time and place to review all of the public land laws and their administration. It was merely as a matter of convenience that these individual subjects were identified. While contractors focused on the narrow subject of a particular study, the staff had the continuing responsibility of identifying for the Commission's consideration the interrelationships among the various subjects. In order to accomplish our end, we had to make some arbitrary decisions to avoid, or minimize, duplication which should be kept in mind when individual manuscripts are examined. For example, hunting and fishing for study purposes was included in the examination of the subject of Fish and Wildlife, rather than in the manuscript on Outdoor Recreation. A combination of factors, including the fact that the work of the Commission did not get underway until almost a year after its Organic Act became law and that the scope of the study program was larger than had been envisioned, necessitated the Commission to request an extension of the date by which its report should be submitted from December 31, 1968, to June 30, 1970, and to increase the funds authorized for the entire review from $4 million to $7.39 million. The Act of December 18, 1967 (PL 90-213; 81 Stat. 660) authorized these modifications in the Organic Act. In addition to designing specifications for studies, the staff engaged in work on some studies and supervised those being accomplished under contract. Following the meeting of the Advisory Council in Tucson, Arizona, the Commission met in executive session on November 10, 1968, and considered the first subject to come before it for decisionmaking. Under the procedure adopted, the staff prepared a policy evaluation paper for each subject which outlines the problems as discerned from the study report, material submitted by members of the Advisory Council and the Governors' Representatives, testimony of witnesses, and comments from the Federal departments and agencies. The paper then presented to the Commission the analysis of the problems, stated the matters of policy that required consideration, and discussed these matters of policy in the light of the contractor's report and the discussion with the Advisory Council and the recommendations submitted by the public. Alterna- 306 |