“Preparing our children to be good environmental citizens is some of the most important work any of us can do,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said at an event announcing the new program. “It’s work that will serve future generations and quite literally sustain our world.”

“Each day, we ask students across the nation to demonstrate excellence, integrity and leadership in the classroom, and in return, the Federal Government must do the same,” said Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. “The Green Ribbon Schools program will recognize healthy learning spaces that promote environmental literacy and prepare our leaders of tomorrow to win a clean energy future.”

“The schools taking part in this initiative will help kids connect what they’re learning in science class with the world around them, allowing them to envision solutions to tomorrow’s challenges while living healthier lives today,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “By making green living a part of everyday learning, Green Ribbon Schools will prepare our children to win the future by leading our global green energy economy.”

The Green Ribbon Schools program reflects President Obama’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing energy efficiency, and preparing today’s students for jobs in fields that provide clean energy solutions.

EPA Administrator Jackson and CEQ Chair Sutley joined Secretary Duncan at the announcement at a ceremony planting a tree at the Department of Education’s headquarters. The Texas live oak they planted is the same tree that is depicted in the Education Department’s seal, symbolizing the Department’s commitment to securing our nation’s future by promoting student achievement and fostering education excellence.

The Green Ribbon Schools program will be modeled after the Department of Education’s Blue Ribbon Schools Program, which annually honors public and private schools that are either high performing or have improved student achievement to high levels.

Through the Green Ribbon schools program, the Education Department, the EPA, and CEQ will recognize schools for energy conservation, creating healthy learning spaces, and teaching environmental literacy.

“Environmental literacy is an important part of a well-rounded, world-class education,” Secretary Duncan said. “Through the Green Ribbon Schools program, we’ll be holding up schools that are leading the way in teaching science and in ways that show students the importance of developing clean energy sources and sustainable solutions for the environment.”

The application for the program will be released later this year, and the first group of “Green Ribbon Schools” announced next year.

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In no place is America’s natural and historic legacy more evident than our extraordinary collection of 394 national parks. “Healthy Parks, Healthy People,” the focus for this year’s National Park Week, highlights the role of public lands — whether an iconic national park or a local green space — in connecting human and environmental well-being. To encourage citizens to spend time in national parks, all entrance fees will be waived during National Park Week. All Americans can visit www.NPS.gov to find nearby parks where history can be discovered and nature explored.

America is fortunate to have a long history of conservation pioneers, like President Theodore Roosevelt, who understood the value of protecting our most precious landscapes. My Administration is building on this legacy with the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative, designed to create a 21st-century conservation ethic and reconnect Americans with our natural, cultural, and historic heritage. We are working to ensure more American children have access to safe and clean parks and open spaces close to their homes. We will better support the farmers, ranchers, and private landowners that help protect rural landscapes and we will manage our public lands and waters with a renewed commitment to sound stewardship and resilience. As part of this responsibility, Federal agencies are also partnering with the First Lady’s “Let’s Move!” initiative on “Let’s Move Outside!,” a program that connects young people and their families to the outdoors to encourage healthy recreation.

The National Park Service, with 84 million acres of land and 17,000 miles of trails, works with environmental groups, scientists, business innovators, and health-care providers to promote physical activity in parks. Every Federal dollar invested in our national parks generates benefits for State and local economies. Beyond park boundaries, the National Park Service’s Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program works with communities to create and enhance local parks, revitalize rivers, preserve valuable open spaces, and develop trail and greenway networks that provide close-to-home outdoor opportunities for everyone — from children to seniors — to get outside, get healthy, and have fun.

During National Park Week, we reaffirm our need to maintain connections to the natural world. Whether on the open range or in the heart of a bustling city, each of us can work to conserve our lands and reinforce the importance of setting aside beautiful places for inspiration, relaxation, and recreation for all people.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 16 through April 24, 2011, as National Park Week. I encourage all Americans to visit their national parks and be reminded of these unique blessings we share as a Nation.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand eleven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fifth.

BARACK OBAMA

For the official White House release, click here.

“This website is designed to help young people get out, get involved, and get a job when it comes to the great outdoors,” said Secretary Salazar.  “Young people are the next generation of conservationists and we must empower them to take a leadership role in shaping their future.”

The new website – www.YouthGO.gov—is part of an Interior-wide effort to engage young people in recreation and conservation efforts and to increase employment and career opportunities.  After establishing a Youth in the Great Outdoors office, Interior hired more than 21,000 youth in 2010 – an increase of 45 percent over the previous year.  The website features links to a wide variety of internships and seasonal and permanent job opportunities within Interior, ranging from working concessions in a National Park to building trails on public lands.

The website, spearheaded by the National Conservation Training Center of the Fish and Wildlife Service, will also serve as a means for federal partners, educators, and community organizations to showcase their events and employment opportunities. Youth can also share their stories – and find ways to interact with federal agencies and partners directly.

Youth employment, education and engagement is a top priority of President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors initiative to establish a recreation and conservation ethic for the 21st century based on the priorities of American communities.  The initiative is the result of a national dialogue that included 51 administration-hosted listening sessions around the country – 21focused on youth – and more than 100,000 comments received in person or in writing.

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Please join us on Thursday March 17th at 2:00 pm EST as Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar answer your questions live at http://www.whitehouse.gov/live.

Submit your questions in advance on the YouthGO YouTube page at http://www.youtube.com/user/YouthGOdoi or send them to YouthGO@ios.doi.gov.

You can also submit questions live via the White House Facebook app at http://apps.facebook.com/whitehouselive.

With the release of the America’s Great Outdoors report we mark a new beginning in our efforts to reconnect our nation’s young people to the natural places that define our country and fuel our spirit of adventure. Our nation’s youth have spoken. Now it’s up to us to listen to what you’ve said.

We look forward to having you on Thursday, March 17th.

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Archived video — closed captioning available via YouTube:

Last week, President Barack Obama announced the Administration’s action plan, under the America’s Great Outdoors initiative, to achieve lasting conservation of the outdoor spaces that power our nation’s economy, shape our culture, and build our outdoor traditions. This initiative seeks to reinvigorate our approach to conservation and reconnect Americans, especially young people, with the lands and waters that are used for farming and ranching, hunting and fishing, and for families to spend quality time together.  Recognizing that many of these places and resources are under intense pressure, the President established the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative last April to work with the American people in developing a conservation and recreation agenda that makes sense for the 21st century.

This report is the product of 51 listening sessions across the nation—21 specifically with young people—consisting of more than 10,000 participants spanning all ages and backgrounds, plus more than 100,000 comments from citizens across the nation sharing with us your priorities for the lands and waters that you know best. We built this plan with your input and your involvement doesn’t stop there.

On March 3, 2011, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson and I will continue the conversation by hosting the first America’s Great Outdoors live chat.  You can join by video before the chat or by Facebook during the chat.  You can post your YouTube video questions by responding to the video above, or by sending your questions to policyoutreach@ceq.eop.gov.  To submit by Facebook during the live chat, sign on to our Facebook chat application on Thursday March 3rd at 4:30 pm (EST).

We look forward to talking to you!

Nancy Sutley is Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality

On April 16, President Obama launched the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative as a way to create a national dialogue about conservation in America.

As part of this dialogue, we brought together ranchers, farmers and forest landowners, sportsmen and women, state and local government leaders, tribal leaders, public-lands experts, conservationists, youth leaders, business representatives, and others to learn about some of the smart, creative ways communities are conserving outdoor spaces.

Today we are releasing the America’s Great Outdoors report “A Promise to future generations,” which is a result of that dialogue. Recognizing that the best ideas come from outside Washington, the report released today outlines ways in which the Federal Government will help empower local communities to accomplish their conservation and recreation priorities. Last summer, senior Administration officials held 51 listening sessions across the country to gather input from Americans about the outdoor places and activities that they value most. These sessions drew more than 10,000 participants and over 100,000 online written comments, shaping an action plan that we are releasing today.

We hope you will join our continuing conversation about America’s Great Outdoors. Please check out and comment on our national progress. We want to hear from you about the places you love, your community’s efforts to protect them, and how we can better support modern-day land and water conservation efforts happening in communities across the country.

Effort will Promote and Support Community-Level Efforts to Conserve Outdoor Spaces

WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Barack Obama signed a Presidential Memorandum today establishing the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative to promote and support innovative community-level efforts to conserve outdoor spaces and to reconnect Americans to the outdoors. The President spoke before leaders representing the conservation, farming, ranching, sporting, recreation, forestry, private industry, local parks and academia communities from all 53 states and territories.The Presidential Memorandum calls on the Secretaries of the Interior and of Agriculture, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to lead the Initiative, in coordination with the Departments of Defense, Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Labor, Transportation, Education, and the Office of Management and Budget. The Initiative will support a 21st century conservation agenda that builds on successes in communities across the country, and will start a national dialogue about conservation that supports the efforts of private citizens and local communities.

“Today, with 80 percent of Americans living in cities and suburbs, it is more important than ever for people to have access to outdoor space. Just as we cherish our childhood memories of hiking and sledding, fishing and camping, and just as we enjoy spending time outdoors with our families, we must guard these places and traditions for new generations,” said CEQ Chair Nancy Sutley. “Through this Initiative we hope to identify new opportunities to work with Americans on a modern approach to conservation that begins at the ground level, and to reinvigorate the national conversation about our outdoors.”

“Since President Theodore Roosevelt held the first White House conference on conservation in 1908, we as Americans have taken extraordinary steps to protect our land, water, wildlife, and history for future generations, but today the places we love face new challenges that require new ideas and new strategies to solve,” said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. “President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors Initiative will start a much-needed dialogue about conservation in our country so that we can hear directly from Americans about the places they care about and how they are working to protect them. This is about listening, learning, and finding common-sense ways to support the good work that is happening in communities across the country.”

“President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors Initiative will play an important role in confronting the serious challenges our natural resources face today: climate change, air and water pollution, landscape fragmentation and loss of open space,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “This effort will bring Americans from across the country together to look for new approaches to protect our national treasures. And it will highlight the importance of working across ownership boundaries to restore and conserve both private and public lands in a way that recognizes that conservation and economic vitality are inextricably linked.”

“Too many of our cities have limited access to parks for children, low-income residents and communities of color. Improving access to open areas and green space in our urban communities should be a focus of a 21st century conservation strategy,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “It makes me proud that generations to come will know that we took action to preserve, restore and protect vital natural treasures.”

The full text of the Memorandum can be found at http://doi.gov/americasgreatoutdoors/upload/2010outdoors-mem-rel-2.pdf