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,; ;i ;i ;' " ;! ~! " " ,I ., I I , I '1 ! i :,L..,.. OO\H 73 CHAPTER 3 PRESERVATION OF RIVERS THROUGH ACQUISITION IS SLOW AND COSTLY ~he preservation and protection of national wild and scenic rivers has progressed slowly. The Federal agencies responsible for managing national rivers have used the strategy of acquiring lands and scenic easements 1/ t~ pre- serve wild and scenic values within the river corridors. Extensive acquisition was not intended by the Congress and has proven controversial, time-consuming, and increasingly costly. An alternative strategy, coordinating Federal management with State and local land use controls, can pro- vide more rapid protection at reduced cost. FEDERAL AGENCIES ARE USING A SINGLE STRATEGY TO PRESERVE RIVERS Federal agencies administer 15 rivers or river segments in the national wild and scenic rivers system and are employ- ing only one strategy to control development along these rivers--the acquisition of land in fee or scenic easement. Since the program began in 1968, the Federal agen~ies have acquired 37,651 acres of land in fee or scenic easements. The agencies plan to acguire another 88,615 acres. (An additional amount of land to be acquired for the abed River had ncr, been determined at the time of our review.) The total of 126,266 acres acquired or to be acquired represents almost all the private land located along the federally administered rivers. The Conqress intended to minimize land acquisition The legislative history of the wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968, as well as the act itself, clearly established that the Federal agencies were to minimize the amount of l/Scenic easement means the right to control the use of land (including the air space above such land) within the authorized boundaries of a component of tte wild and scenic rivers system for the purpose of protecting the natural qualities of a designated wild, scenic, or recreational river area. 23 .~'t"'.