He was commenting on the designation of the Hudson River as one of 14 National Heritage Rivers by President Clinton last year. He recognized communities cooperating and asked us to work on it. He outlined several tenets that guided the incentive. This had to be a locally driven issue, we couldn't interfere with the work going on. As an example, Mr. Clark outlined the Department of the Army's Economic Forecast System which was created to estimate the economic impact of closing bases.
People really do love their rivers.
We had 126 nominations and were supposed to come up with 10. The President added four more. He observed the process did not flow freely. Governor George Pataki came and talked to the New York delegation and is credited with being part of saving the American Heritage River Program. The funds will not be a budget item, Mr. Clark clarified.