From the ORRRC chairman.

The fortieth anniversary of the report, Outdoor Recreation for America, describing the work and recommendations of the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission (ORRRC), is an occasion to commemorate the programs the commission helped to bring about-the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a Bureau of Outdoor Recreation, a national system of rivers and trails, and many others. These programs play an important role in making outdoor recreation opportunities available to the American people.

Perhaps even more significant than the specific programs ORRRC helped to create are the changes in national direction that it fostered.

First, the commission's work brought the attention of the American people and the Congress to the fact that the outdoors was an important part of American life that should be cherished. To be sure, there was a long tradition of conservation in our country, but ORRRC helped to focus this concern and give it a place on the national agenda it had not had before. Major political leaders such as President Lyndon Johnson and my brother, Nelson Rockefeller, took up the cause and urged new legislation and new funding. This awakened awareness to the value of nature and helped lay the groundwork for the surge in environmental action that found expression in Earth Day 1970 and important legislative achievements that followed.

Second, the commission's work demonstrated the importance of bipartisanship in achieving results. The Commission was made up of eight members of Congress, divided equally among political parties and the House and Senate, and seven private citizens appointed by the President. We had major figures including U.S. Senators Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson of Washington and Clinton Anderson of New Mexico on the Democratic side, and U.S. Representatives John Saylar of Pennsylvania and John Kyl of Iowa from the Republicans. They came to meetings and participated fully. The great advantage was that when the time came to turn recommendations into legislative action, those who had served on the commission and had helped shape its report were strong advocates, regardless of party. There may be something to learn from this bipartisanship in approaching today's sometimes contentious environmental issues.

Third, the report reflected a new approach to conservation -- that the problems and opportunities were not all in the countryside, but that urban needs were important as well. The report includes a chapter, Recreation for Metropolitan America, which offers specific recommendations for meeting urban needs. A number of these, such as making recreation an integral element in land use planning and use of easements to preserve land and provide access are relevant today. In fact, making outdoor recreation opportunities available to the growing number of our urban dwellers is today an even more urgent opportunity worthy of substantial support from Federal and state governments.

Thus, I am grateful to the National Recreation and Park Association for commemoration of the work of Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission, and I hope that as we review the past, we will continue to use the lessons learned from ORRRC to address the business of the future.