(a) Because of the continuing growth of the population and the development of the economy of the State, it is necessary and desirable that areas of unusual natural significance be set aside and preserved for the benefit of present and future generations before they have been destroyed, for once destroyed they cannot be wholly restored. Such areas are irreplaceable as laboratories for scientific research, as reservoirs of natural materials — not all of the uses of which are now known, as habitats for plant and animal species and biotic communities whose diversity enriches the meaning and enjoyment of human life, as living museums where people may observe natural biotic and environmental systems of the earth and the interdependence of all forms of life, and as reminders of the vital dependence of the health of the human community upon the health of the natural communities of which it is an inseparable part.

(b) It is essential to the people of the State that they retain the opportunities to maintain close contact with such living communities and environmental systems of the earth and to benefit from the scientific, educational, esthetic, recreational and cultural values they possess. It is therefore the public policy of the State that a registry of such areas be established and maintained by the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, that such areas be acquired and preserved by the State, and that other agencies, organizations and individuals, both public and private, be encouraged to set aside such areas for the common benefit of the people of present and future generations.

61 Del. Laws, c. 212, § 2.