This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.

---

Remarks by
Chris Therral Delaporte Director
Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service U.S. Department of the Interior
at
The 8th Annual Meeting of State Historic Preservation Officers and Federal Representatives Washington, D.C.
February 28, 1978
On January 25, as you know, Secretary of the Interior Andrus announced establishment of the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service. I think it is fortunate that this annual meeting of State Historic Preservation Officers and Federal Representatives is taking place so soon after that announcement. It gives us an opportunity to meet in person during the two to three month period set aside for organizational transition.
The effort of the past eight months to keep one another informed of plans for this important step in the Administration's National Heritage Program is no substitute for face-to-face discussion.
Since 1971 the State Historic Preservation Officers have met each winter here in Washington. Many of you, as well as a good number of people with the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation, have been present at each of eight annual meetings. This continuity?in experience, leadership, and associations?is one of the great strengths in the preservation partnership between the States and Federal Government. It has been and will continue to be very important in the National Heritage Program.
I intend to be candid today. I ask for your candor in return. I needn't dwell extensively here on the events that followed President Carter's call for a National Heritage Program in his Environmental Message last May, or on the organizational composition of the new Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service. Instead, I want to give you several assurances. Then I want to share with you some thoughts about issues and opportunities I believe we face in America's historic preservation movement.
Here are the assurances.
One, I intend that the organizational structure of the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service, providing as it does an integrated focal point in the Federal Government for related natural conservation, historic preservation, and recreational concerns, will serve, without fail, the best interests of each. I realize there are apprehensions that administrative integration of these functions may create its own imbalances. I