quality timber that will be of marginal economic value. We need to establish new forests on over 5 million acres. We urgently need erosion control work on the 5 million acres of farmlands where our soils resources are slipping away to the Gulf of Mexico. Recent intensive studies along the south shore of Lake Superior show that a massive total of $54 million could be invested immediately just to protect the resources upon which the recreation industry depends. Included would be watershed work on the Superior streams, highway beauty enhancement, lake rehabilitation where fish species have become unbalanced to the point that sport fishing has deteriorated, access point development, campground and picnic sites development, as well as protection and development of historic sites, scenic drives, museums, etc. Our planning efforts are rapidly determining our major priorities for public investment. These developments will help these areas recover from their past neglect. Now, there is no question but what there will be some clamor raised against public investment in resources. There always are individuals who oppose the use of planning in development of our resources. Other responsible citizens express sincere doubt, through inexperience. But I say that intelligent public investment in our natural and human resources pays off. Wisconsin can prove it; we point to the favorable resource conditions for our paper companies. Most people know that Wisconsin has a large forest resource base. What they don't know is that most of it was once clear cut and burned. Some was illadvisedly developed for agriculture. These lands were in such an unhappy condition that in the twenties and thirties millions of acres were abandoned as useless, and they became only a drain on the local governments and the State. There was little left upon which to build. Lumber mills closed. Pulp and paper mills bought their supplies elsewhere, reaching into Canada and the Far West. This was a surprise and a shock to people, even the experts had been amazed at the speed with which man and his ax and torch had razed this huge area which is so large that it would form a belt 1 mile wide all around the earth. But man had done what no one expected. He had cut and hacked his way back into the wildest sections, cut with abandon and watched the logs roll down the rivers to the mill, and later watched the slash burn unchecked for weeks-all in record time. The point is, that the legacy of carnage of the twenties and thirties was rebuilt by careful land-use planning, establishment of dedicated forests, the establishment of forest fire protection facilities, the establishment of technical corps to reforest these acres, to map and plan forest access and recommend zoning and resettlement to cut local tax burdens. CCC crews built roads, campgrounds, plantations, bridges, and a host of other improvements. Wisconsin, with Federal help, undertook this task of investment in the future. It has paid off. Even now, as we confer here, heavy pulp trucks rumble over well engineered roads in our north woods, carrying their cargo to Wisconsin's great pulp and paper mills. Many of these roads were built by the CCC as a public investment. They already have cut the cost of getting pulp to our mills; they have made much more of our woodland accessible to the vacationist and sportsman, and have provided savings in time and money to local residents. The woods, planned by technologists, are still young and in need of thinning, pruning, and continued care, but they are contributing to the enrichment of the northern economy at an increasing rate. Thousands of acres of CCC-established young forest plantations are coming into production, first with posts and poles, and now with pulp. Some of the reforested areas were sold to pulp and paper companies at a fraction of their actual value to encourage the establishment of commercial forests in our State. This movement has grown so that now nearly all of our pulp and timber companies have joined this movement, greatly increasing the acreage of managed forests. So this public investment in our north has resulted in a better forest industry. You will also hear arguments against camps because of local objections. Our experience with this problem has not borne this fear out. Wisconsin operates resource camps right now for both prisoners from our State detention centers as well as youth camps for recreation work under Senator Nelson's $50 million outdoor recreation program. Neither type causes problems and both have proven highly productive. We bave found that local leaders like to be consulted prior to the establishment of new camps, but we have never had any trouble getting camps established. Both camps have been very successful in Wisconsin. In fact, I recently recommended to our State recreation committee that the camp program be expanded because of (1) the proven value to our youth, and (2) the benefits to the State. In summary, I urge this committee to support Senator Nelson's bill, S. 2958, to put men to work to protect and develop our natural and human resources, and stress the following points: (1) The labor market of the sixties is being flooded by the products of the postwar baby boom. (2) Jobs for the unskilled are disappearing. (3) Wisconsin, and no doubt many other States, urgently needs public investment in natural resources. (4) Wisconsin has 22 depressed counties (ARA). (5) Our urban youth need more opportunity. (6) The last major public investment in Wisconsin's natural resources has been of great economic aid to private industry as well as the public trust. (7) Resource camps are well received by the public. (8) Wisconsin has the work needs delineated. (9) Work on natural resources could have a therapeutic value for disturbed youth. No doubt consideration can be given in the future to programs for young women and for older workers. Thank you for your attention. It has been a pleasure for me to meet with you. Senator CLARK. Thank you very much, Mr. Hovind. Will you tell Governor Reynolds we appreciate very much his arranging for you to testify before this subcommittee. We will take serious heed of his recommendations. Mr. HOVIND. Thank you. Senator CLARK. Now Mayor, thank you very much for your courtesy in standing aside for the other witness. Do you have a prepared statement? STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN E. BABIARZ, MAYOR OF WILMINGTON, DEL., FOR U.S. CONFERENCE OF MAYORS Mayor BABIARZ. Yes, sir. Senator CLARK. Is that statement on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Mayors? Mayor BABIARZ. Yes, sir; also on behalf of the city of Wilmington and State of Delaware. Senator CLARK. This statement will be printed in full at this point. I see it is quite short. Would you care to amplify it or emphasize any parts of it? (The prepared statement of Mayor Babiarz follows:) PREPARED STATEMENT BY JOHN E. BABIARZ, MAYOR OF WILMINGTON, DEL. First let me express the thanks of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and that of the city of Wilmington for the opportunity to appear before this committee today in behalf of Senate bill 2958. After a thorough study of Senator Nelson's document which he has entitled "The Human and Resource Conservation Act of 1964," we find great merit in it, and believe that should it be implemented the entire Nation could benefit from the results of the proposed programs. May I initially refer to my own city of Wilmington, Del. We were one of the more than 2,000 contacts which Senator Nelson made in his quest to see whether workable programs would be forthcoming after his plans were studied. Immediate attention was given to his request that appropriate departments of the city of Wilmington make surveys on this subject. After our city planner and director of parks and recreation made their studies, we found that we could very easily utilize at least 19 man-years of work, some of which could begin almost immediately. I might preface further remarks by relating to you that this summer we initiated an 8-week youth work program, which is just coming to a close. The cost of this program was approximately $46,434.80. We specified that workers had to be either high school or college students who expected to continue their studies. We were not interested in dropouts. We wanted to help young people who were eager to help themselves, but who had no means of employment. I can tell you today that the program has been successful and that we have had favorable comments from many sources. This project was supervised by our department of public works, but younger men were employed as foremen. Our first-year program consisted of the following type of work: 1. Cleaning "tax" and private property. 2. Cleaning ditches. 3. Cleaning catch basins and sewerlines. 4. Doing some degree of street cleaning. 5. Housekeeping work on parklands. A total of 82 young men were employed in this initial project. However, Peter A. Larson, our city planner, informed Senator Nelson some weeks ago that the city could have used three times the number of employees used this summer and at least 15 man-years of work could have resulted. Of course, our limited budget made this impossible. Had funds been available as outlined in S. 2958, our city could have benefited from an extended work program. Our director of parks and recreation believes that another 4 man-year project could be developed through the following program: 1. Cleaning streams through parks. 2. Making improvements to paths and walks. 3. Setting permanent-type benches in all parks. 5. Regrading and filling playground areas. 6. Removing dead and fallen trees. 7. A tree replanting program. I am told that similar projects have been unveiled throughout the United States which could be developed to give us a better conservation program and thus make existing parklands and city properties more attractive and able to be utilized by greater numbers of people. Above all, it would provide an opportunity for employment of unskilled labor of which there is generally an abundance in my city and every other one of which I have any knowledge. While I do not propose to speak here for the State of Delaware, nevertheless I know of the interest of many citizens in developing Fort Delaware State Park into a tourist attraction. The fort is located on an island in the Delaware River just 15 miles southeast of Wilmington, and we are naturally interested in seeing this developed into a major eastern seaboard attraction. Fort Delaware is the only relic of the Civil War still in existence in the State. The fort is well preserved and is surrounded by a large acreage of lawn. There is also a moat surrounding the fort which, according to professional estimates, could be made workable with proper attention. At present Fort Delaware is open to the public only on weekends and holidays. It must be reached by boat from Delaware City, which is a pleasant 10-minute ride. Under its present restricted use, it attracts more than 10,000 people annually. This could be a readymade program if this bill should be enacted into law. At the least two other steps could be taken in Delaware, in my opinion, which would produce work on a local level so unskilled workers could live at home while being thus employed. In most areas of the country which are near large bodies of water there has been, and continues to be, a mosquito problem. This is certainly true in my State. If a program of drainage ditch work could be arranged to help destroy the breeding places of mosquitos, we would be making a significant contribution to the health and welfare of our people. Again, Delaware has been most fortunate in receiving a large sum of tax money from the General Motors divestiture ruling, and right now a general assembly bill is being considered to set aside sums of that money to develop "green acres." This means that more capital funds would be spent to secure recreational and conservation lands. I can foresee a great benefit for the people of the State should this bill be enacted. Delaware would most likely be ready to move forward since it would have matching funds available. For my part, and speaking to you on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Mayors who are fully aware of Senator Nelson's efforts in behalf of this bill, it is my sincere hope that its merits will receive your closest scrutiny and utmost attention. Thank you. Mayor BABIARZ. Yes, I will. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Senator Nelson. I want to express the thanks of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and also my own and the city of Wilmington for this opportunity. I think there is one area that should be amplified. This year in the city of Wilmington we initiated a summer work program for our youth. This is a program limited by our own ability to finance it and the initial results are good. Private industry and enterprise are only able to take up some of the youth that are available during the summer period. To keep these young people active and doing something constructive we initiated this program with one idea in mind, that these were not to be school dropouts but boys who are interested in furthering their education. Also, it has another aspect in that it shows them that as unskilled people they face menial tasks in the future. The boys are really going at it and it has been a very successful program so far. Senator NELSON. How many boys are there? Mayor BABIARZ. This is a pilot program. We are using nine groups of nine boys each with rented equipment and small tools. We probably could use three or four times that many and they are available. Senator NELSON. What is the population of your city? Mayor BABIARZ. 100,000. Senator NELSON. They use nine groups of nine? Mayor BABIARZ. Yes; 81 boys and one supervisor makes 82. Mayor BABIARZ. They are cleaning tax property as well as some of the vacant properties that private people and industry have neglected. Despite enforcement they still fail to cut the weeds and clean the trash that is dumped by the public, so we are going to charge the people for this work. The boys have been cleaning ditches, catch basins, sewerlines, and doing some degree of street cleaning, but this is not the major portion because we have a regular crew. We have also set three crews to housekeeping on parklands. Here they are cleaning up dead shrubbery, cutting down dead trees, cleaning streambeds and so forth. Senator NELSON. Have you completed the program? Mayor BABIARZ. No, we are halfway through. Senator NELSON. What is your evaluation of the quality of work they are doing? These Mayor BABIARZ. It is excellent. The boys are tending to their work and are not fooling around. They are supervising themselves. are boys from 16 to 21. The top supervisor is a college student, a graduate student. I think he is age 23. Of course they are also under the department of public works and under the park board wherever they enter the parks. Primarily this is the youth program working under its own general supervision. We had 19 accidents reported in the first 4 weeks of operation. Ten of these were bee stings and poison ivy. The only major accident involved a boy who stubbed his toe on a hidden rock and had to leave work for 3 days. There was no other lost time from any of the other accidents, which include scratches or cuts on their feet from some particular trash that they may not have seen. Senator NELSON. What is your method of selection? Mayor BABIARZ. We had a screening committee of five citizens. We had our personnel department issue applications. Over 225 boys applied. The committee screened them primarily to see that they were with the age bracket, that they were attending school and that they intended to continue in school. It was not necessary that they needed the money to continue school, but this helped in the selection of the boys in order to prove that they would need this money to further their education. This certainly helped in the selection. Senator NELSON. In your judgment is there adequate work to be done? Mayor BABIARZ. This is just scratching the surface. We have over 1,000 acres of park land that belongs to the city of Wilmington. This is a large acreage and we are not able to maintain it at the level that it should be. So there is a lot of backlog of just general house cleaning that can be done as well as the other items I have mentioned. Senator NELSON. The chairman, Senator Clark, expressed a concern that will be expressed in Congress and elsewhere about the question of whether or not this kind of program would be likened to the make work scheme. My inquiry is whether there is genuinely important and useful work to be done in your city of 100,000 in which you can use this kind of personnel? Mayor BABIARZ. Yes. I say that this is the part of the program which was not mentioned in your bill but something that I think is very important, and that is keep these young people active during the summer months so that they don't lie around and contribute to problems that generally arise in the summer months from idle youths. Senator NELSON. That was one of the objectives I have in the bill. It has no limit on who might be employed, the youth, unemployed, or what have you. At least that was our intent. Mayor BABIARZ. To utilize the unemployed, unskilled labor we also have some project. Fort Delaware, a relic of Civil War days, is located on an island 15 miles south of Wilmington. Here there are 50 or 70 acres of land. The relic is still in fairly good condition. There is a moat surrounding it. We have had 10,000 visitors there last year despite the fact they have to take a 10-minute boat ride from the mainland tor each it. It has attracted visitors from near and far. There is work there that could be accomplished by some of the unemployed people who live nearby, so you would not have to establish any camps for them. They could be transported to and from their homes to this work. Also I point out on a statewide basis we have a problem of mosquitos. We are surrounded by water. The last major work accomplished in this area was during the thirties under the Civilian Conservation Corps. These ditches are now overgrown and filled in. This ditching program could be also accomplished for the control of mosquitoes and conservation of the areas for recreational purposes. Many people cannot enter any of these areas because of the mosquito problem. So here we also have adequate unemployed labor that could be utilized without setting up camps. This is near areas |