hat its intricate processes continue
to function productively; protection of its shores against growing
inappropriate encroachment will be an urgent problem; and the
possibility of its use by the public for recreation will need to be
assured:

1. A cooperative study should be undertaken by Federal agencies,
the States of Maryland and Virginia, the District of Columbia, and
the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, coordinated
through the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation, to identify recreational
and other open space and specific resources along the tidal Potomac
downstream from Chain Bridge that should be established as
estuarine units of a Potomac National River, as State or county
parks, or as units of a system of recreation areas for the District
of Columbia and its metropolitan environs. The Department of the
Interior is assisting the Department of Defense to determine how
military establishments along the Potomac might contribute toward
meeting regional recreational needs, including public access and
use where feasible. These studies should be completed and the
findings reported to the Congress and to State and local
governments at the earliest possible time.

2. As an initial measure toward achieving protection of the
concentrated productivity of the estuary's marshes and wetlands,
Federal, State and local agencies, and the Potomac River Fisheries
Commission, under the leadership of the Bureau of Sport Fisheries
and Wildlife, should undertake a study, to be completed within
three years, to identify key areas of this sort; where possible,
acquisition of such areas should proceed under existing programs.
In view of the recreation potential generally associated with marsh
and wetland areas, this study should be coordinated closely with
the study recommended under item 1 above. The Department of Defense
should examine its land holdings along the estuary to determine if
zones of conservation for fish and wildlife in the marshes and
wetlands can be established immediately.

3. Action should be taken as quickly as possible to acquire the
National Wildlife Refuge on Mason Neck in order to consolidate the
protection of vital open space on that peninsula. Fiscal year 1969
appropriations for the Department of the Interior include funds to
begin such acti