Connecticut Valley Trail for hikers, and strengthen programs for pollution abatement and stream improvement.

The Golden Gate area in the San Francisco Bay region providing an ideal natural setting for expanded outdoor recreation. Preservation of Golden Gate greenery is in competition with plans for apartments and office buildings. Four-fifths of the study area already is owned by public agencies; thus a park would be relatively inexpensive to establish. It would encompass 25 miles of splendidly scenic shoreline.

The Meramec River, southwest of St. Louis. Thirty-five miles of the area are within St. Louis suburbs; and the remainder is within easy day-use distance of that city.

The St. Louis metropolitan area has more than 2 million residents. The area's population is expected to double by the year 2000. Nowhere else in the Central Midwest is there an underdeveloped recreation resource of such quality located so close to a large population center in need of recreation alternatives.

The Buffalo Bayou region near Houston, which could utilize 26,000 acres of two Federal flood-retention reservoir sites west of the city.

The Addicks-Barker reservoirs are located in Harris and Fort Bend Counties adjacent to the western edge of Houston city limits. The area is characterized by flat grassland with a moderate cover of trees. Dense woods are on the shore of the larger creeks which dissect the reservoir sites. The area would mean opportunities for close-in recreation in a high quality, spacious environment for Houston residents.

The Chattahoochee River in and near Atlanta, offering a 25-mile stretch of free-flowing stream from Jones Bridge north of Atlanta to Peachtree Creek in the heart of the city. The river provides a scenic water corridor that would connect a complex of outstanding natural resources well adapted for urban recreation use. The continuous strip of land includes a wide variety of topographic features ranging from 200-foot rock cliffs to meandering floodplains with sandy beaches.

In and around the city of Denver. Eight existing or proposed reservoir developments, various riverways within the South Platte drainage system, and important wildlife areas offer new recreation potential.

Much of the area is already in public ownership. The close proximity of its resources to the heart of the city would make more public, close-in recreation opportunities available to city dwellers.

The Upper Mississippi area, from Minneapolis to the Missouri River near St. Louis. This region offers excellent opportunity for camping, fishing, hunting, sight-seeing, boating, canoeing, picnicking, hiking, horseback riding, nature study, swimming, group camping, winter sports and other activities.

More than 33 million people live within 250 miles of this section of the river. The population of the area is

expected to increase to 55 million by the year 2000. The urban related portions of the river should be given highest priority for recreation development.

The Santa Monica Mountains, extending some 40 miles due east of the Santa Monica Bay area into the heart of Los Angeles. Here is a total area of about 202,000 acres. Some 59,000 acres are in the city of Los Angeles, 85,000 in Los Angeles County and 58,000 in Ventura County.

The beaches along Santa Monica Bay are among the most intensively used in the Nation. The Santa Monica Range, together with the adjoining beaches, form untapped resources in one of the largest metropolitan areas of our country.

Some 10 miles of Lake Michigan Beach frontage that could provide excellent recreation for large numbers of people in the Chicago-Milwaukee area. Approximately