The State of Massachusetts has passed a law providing for the designation and management of Scenic and Recreational Rivers. A work program to implement this act has been developed by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management (MASS DEM) and the North River has been chosen as the pilot project area. The North River watershed is also in the study area for the NSF/RANN supported research program at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. The question which is the basis for this study has been posed by MASS DEM as follows: “What will be the impacts of alternative implementation policy scenarios on new development, and thus on the visual qualities of the scenic and recreational rivers using the North River as a pilot study?” The MASS DEM team has outlined 11 regulatory policy scenarios for managing the future protection of the river. Examples of the components of these scenarios include: conservation purchase within 100 yards (91.44 m) of the river, building density restrictions within 100 yards of the river, tree-cutting constraints within 100 yards of the river, building density restriction within the area seen from the river, and others. Working with the MASS DEM participants, the GSD research team has taken the regulation scenarios and translated them into appropriate model constraints. It has operated the Housing Model to test the effects of these added constraints on housing development (which will account for the great majority of change in the North River watershed), and has tested visual impacts of that new change on the scenic corridor via the Visual Quality Model. The policy implications of the results have been analysed by the author while MASS DEM has had all the responsibility for the incorporation of such findings into actual public policy. This paper summarizes the study process, findings, and conclusions. This paper presents a summary of what was a much more complex and detailed study, particularly as related to the results associated with each regulatory scenario. These were presented in a report: Steinitz, C. “Simulating Alternative Policies for Implementing the Massachusetts Scenic and Recreational Rivers Act: the North River Demonstration Project”. Landscape Architecture Research Office, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A., January, 1978. Given the availability of the research system, this entire study was conducted and completed within a period of 4 weeks.