CITY OF KENOSHA, Wis., Senator GAYLORD NELSON, June 18, 1964. HONORABLE SENATOR: In regard to your letter of June 12 with reference to municipal agencies utilizing unemployed workers on projects such as park development, we submit the following: Kenosha is in need of an extensive citywide tree program-planting, trimming, and removal of street trees. We could use between 20 and 25 men for this project. Tools and equipment, however, would have to be furnished. Yours very truly, ALBERT G. REIS, Superintendent of Parks. CITY OF GREEN BAY, WIS.. July 21, 1964. Senator GAYLORD NELSON, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. HONORABLE SENATOR NELSON: There is a definite need for the development or improvement of park property in this community. It would enhance our park and recreation development program if Federal funds were made available to employ the necessary manpower. The park property that should be improved is newly acquired and not developed. It is necessary to build driveways in some of the parks, riverfront park property needs improvement, and we also plan to acquire other park property in the near future which must be developed. The projects which I have outlined require manpower. This means the hiring of at least 10 men working from April 1 to December 1 each year for a 3-year period. The municipality finds it difficult to appropriate the necessary funds now; therefore, the availability of Federal funds would make it possible for the citizens in this area to enjoy the park and recreation facilities in the foreseeable future. It is probable that without Federal assistance some of these parklands may never be fully developed for public recreation. Sincerely yours, Hon. GAYLORD NELSON, U.S. Senator, Washington, D.C. VERNON H. KRIESER, Director of Parks and Recreation. CITY OF WAUSAU AND MARATHON COUNTY PARK COMMISSIONS, Wausau, Wis., July 2, 1964. DEAR SENATOR NELSON: I apologize to you for being so slow in acknowledging your letter of June 12, although the delay was unavoidable. Answering your first question, we could use a substantial number of workers in our city and county park programs. In addition, many could also be used to improve the roads leading to some of the county areas, as the townships adjoining the county parks do not have the means to do so. Your second question of types of work could be listed as road and trail improvements; bridge construction, both foot and highway; shelters, mostly of the trailside type; sign erection (we use the rustic, homemade, wooden type); dam construction; land clearing and construction of athletic fields; trailer site improvements-all of which can be done without plans or with plans on hand. It is very difficult to estimate the man-years of work but would say for this community it would probably be 50 for perhaps 5 years. Of course, this is a very wide estimate and would change due to new work arising as a result of new developments in the parks. If a program should be set up it should be be vastly different from the old CWA, PWA, FERA projects where 75 percent of the money spent was wasted. This should be carefully studied in order to secure major results for the money spent. Cordially, I. S. HORGEN, Superintendent of Parks. CEMETERY AND PARKS DEpartment, Hon. GAYLORD NELSON, Washington, D.C. DEAR SENATOR: Regarding your June 12, 1964, letter relative to using unemployed workers on conservation projects. Your proposed legislation appears to be limited to park development as related to conservation only and therefore would not include projects such as additional athletic fields, beach area landscaping, etc. Assuming this to be the case, our department needs would be negligible in the immediate future especially if concerned individuals possessed no special skills. Each year our department hires about 40 temporary workers, students, and others, during the summer. I assume Federal funds would not be substituted for municipal funds to pay any of these persons. An important factor affecting the number of individuals that could be properly used would be the latitude allowed in the use of funds and if contractors services could be used in connection with projects. Simply adding unskilled labor would be of very limited help. Specifically, within the definition of conservation projects and without extensive preparation, few persons could be usefully employed. This should not be construed to mean we have no need for a park improvement program. It means we require authorization and funds chiefly for Road resurfacing; Additional restrooms (buildings); An additional athletic field and play areas (we have land); Park development within our present parks (added facilities); and If funds for some of these projects were available the personnel picture would change. I feel most cities need to develop their parks and playground system more, and by so doing would relieve their own overburdened facilities plus relieving pressure elsewhere. I have tried to give you an honest appraisal of our municipal situation as it is at present. Please write again if you think I might help. Very truly yours, LOUIS H. NORTEMAN, Superintendent. CITY OF MADISON, Madison, Wis., June 26, 1964. Senator GAYLORD NELSON, Washington, D.C. DEAR SENATOR NELSON: Your letter of June 12, 1964, has evoked a great deal of thought on the overall subject of unemployment. There are two types of workers who are seeking employment in Madison at this time of year. The adult labor pool, small as it is in Madison, includes many excellent workers who, because of age, cannot compete for the available unskilled labor jobs. These men, many of them without a job skill, are unable to qualify for the usual heavy labor jobs available in construction but they are excellent workmen in the field of park maintenance and park construction. At this time of year, particularly, we have hundreds of young men-18 or over-who are begging for summer jobs. These young men need work not only for the wages which they will use to further their education but also and more important because they need a physical work experience. These young people are at loose ends because they have pursued their academic studies for 9 months and are ready for a change. In my opinion the best change is to hard physical work. The Madison park system could use many of these men if funds are available. The work would consist of work as laborers in the construction and rehabilitation of public parks. We have several hundred acres of land in need of improvement. General plans have been prepared and the projects are awaiting financing. A very substantial part of the work would be handwork consisting of cleaning out drainage waterways, placing riprap on shorelines, trimming trees and shrubs, grading of park lawn areas, sodding, construction of flower gardens, construction of park walks, brushing out hiking trails and bicycle paths, construction of animal enclosures at the zoo, improving landscape features on golf courses, and planting trees and shrubs. In addition to this type of work we need a great deal of construction work requiring skilled help. An estimate of the amount of such work in terms of man-years of labor would be purely an estimate. The estimate must be related directly to the availability of supervision, tools, and equipment. This relationship is important because the project, to be successful, must be adequately staffed and equipped. As a preliminary estimate and assuming that the necessary tools, equipment, and supervision are also available we could gainfully employ up to 150 men during 9 months of the year. Considering the backlog of work which we now have and anticipating that Madison will continue to grow, this work force and even a larger force could be used for the next several years. I trust that this information will be of value to you. If I can be of further service, please call on me. DEAR SENATOR NELSON: Your letter requesting information as to the legislation that is being drafted to provide funds to Federal, State, county, and municipal agencies to utilize unemployed workers on conservation projects was received. Here in Sheboygan the recreation department is administered by the school board and the park department by the city council. It may be of interest to you that just 2 weeks ago I proposed to the board of education that commencing next summer the Sheboygan Recreation Department set up a combination work, study, and play program in conjunction with the school curriculum coordinator, the vocational school, and recreation department. The proposal as was planned last week would employ 25 to 50 youths next summer, and approximately 100 to 150 the following year. I made a comment at this meeting that there possibly might be Federal funds available in the near future for this type of a program. We have given thought that this would not be limited to any particular type of youth; that it would be a mixture of all. Some of the youth would be employed as assistant playground leaders, some in maintenance work, and some with school cleaning during the summer months. We have given thought that every boy would be required to take one or two subjects during the summer months, either as an enrichment course or remedial course, whichever is needed by the individual; that he would sign a contract which would obligate him to take these courses: do approximately 6 hours of work; and participate regularly in an organized recreational activity. I think this program that you are working on is very much in need, as we are experiencing a great number of youth who are coming to us for employment, and under our present arrangements we are not able to use them. If I can be of help in any other way, please let me know. Yours truly, DEAR SENATOR NELSON: I have been working with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on work which could be done around Bureau of Reclamation reservoirs in Wyoming, which are administered by the State parks commission for recreation. The man-years for these reservoirs will be in the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation reports to you or your committee. The parks commission also has several historic sites, monuments, scenic areas, and such which could use quite a number of workers. If this would include supervision and technical knowledge, we could use 100 men through the summer months for 3 years. However, our budget would not handle this number of men unless supervisory personnel and technical workers were also available. Sincerely, HAROLD ODDE. Hon. GAYLORD NELSON, STATE OF WYOMING, Washington, D.C. DEAR SENATOR NELSON: Mr. Jiacoletti passed away March 7, 1964. The responsibility and authority of the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission is restricted to the management of Wyoming's wildlife resources. Development projects within our prerogative include range improvement, habitat improvement for both game and fish, and some involvement in boating facilities, such as boat ramps, docks, buoys, etc. I am taking the liberty of forwarding a copy of yours to our State park director Harold Odde, at Shoshoni, and State Forester Carl Johnson, stationed at Cheyenne. They may wish to comment. Hoping this sufficiently answers your inquiry, I am, JAMES B. WHITE, State Game and Fish Commissioner. Hon. GAYLORD NELSON, Washington, D.C. COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC LANDS AND FARM LOANS, STATE OF WYOMING, Cheyenne, June 4, 1964. DEAR SENATOR NELSON: Your letter to our Wyoming Game and Fish Department has been referred to this office for comment. As you are aware, in most State forestry departments timber management practices are conducted on State lands and professional assistance is provided to the private forest landowner under various cooperative forestry programs such as the cooperative forest management program, Public Law 566 (small watersheds), tree planting under the section 4 of the Clarke-McNary Act and several others. In Wyoming we also extend these services to the private forest landowner. However, our primary purpose is to institute multiple use, scientific management on our State lands. In this management we do have a number of practices which could utilize the unemployed. We do have a problem, though, that you might want to be made aware of and perhaps this may only be peculiar to our State. We have had several counties designated for ARA assistance in order to employ the unemployed. In attempting to use accelerated public works funds, some of our Federal agencies find they have to pay higher wages than is current in the area in order to obtain sufficient personnel to conduct their specific projects. This, of course, takes employees from the small industry who cannot compete with the wage scale or other considerations provided. Some of our forest industry also find that the unemployed group would rather draw unemployment compensation rather than work during the winter. In other words, they are working 5 or 6 months and "resting" on compensation for the remainder of the time. I cite these because it appears we are now obtaining legislation that makes it more profitable for an individual to become one of the unemployed. I do hope and urge your consideration of this facet in any legislation you are undertaking. We do realize there are many areas where employment is necessary, and perhaps legislation is the best method to meet the problem. To be specific, we are currently attempting to utilize our prison population on conservation projects. This has not reached fruition at this time, but should in the near future. We also could use additional help in other areas, but our State funds are limited. It is becoming more difficult to obtain "matching funds" from our State legislatures to meet the increasing number of Federal programs. Actually our program would be small should any program be instituted. Although we do have a very serious bark beetle infestation that is threatening to destroy a great deal of our commercial forest land in the Black Hills of Wyoming as well as South Dakota. Perhaps this might be one of our projects. I hope this will provide you with some insight of our planning and thinking. Should you desire more specific information, we will be happy to supply it to you. Very truly yours, CARL E. JOHNSON, State Forester. CITY OF LARAMIE, Laramie, Wyo., July 2, 1964. Hon. GAYLORD NELSON, Washington, D.C. DEAR SENATOR NELSON: I wish to apologize for the delay in answering your letter of June 12, in reference to conservation projects through municipal agencies. Here in Laramie the city is confronted with the shortage of available funds for such things as park developments, roadside improvements, etc. We could utilize workers in such development programs if the funds for such projects were available. Without special preparation it would be almost impossible to estimate the number of man-years required to complete these projects: In making a rough estimate, it would take approximately 15 man-years to complete these areas. I hope this information is of some value to your legislation. The agency that would conduct a program under the terms of the legislation, as specific information on what activity could be financed in the District of Columbia under the legislation you recently introduced, S. 2958, on the conservation of the human and natural resources of the Nation. The agency that would conduct a program under the terms of the legislation, as we would interpret it for the District of Columbia, would be the National Capital region of the National Park Service, which has responsibility for the adminis |