Conserving and Restoring America’s Great Outdoors
Over the last century, our appreciation for conserving historic and cultural sites has grown. The chapters that follow focus on urban parks and community green spaces, conservation of our working lands, stewardship of our public lands, and protecting our rivers and water resources. One cornerstone for accomplishing the goals set forth in these chapters is immediate full funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
Read the section of the AGO Report titled, “Conserving and Restoring America’s Great Outdoors.”
(4.50 out of 5)
The Government might want to re-word the recommendation on page 60:
Action Item 8.2a: Develop science to support decisions related to climate
change adaptation and resilience.
??Develop science to support decisions?? I’m not a scientist, but shouldn’t it be the opposite – make decisions based upon science? With its current wording, this recommendation could add fuel to the “climate-change-hoax” fire. Pun intended.
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This is pretty standard “scientist-speak” where science needs “to be done” to inform managment decisions. It does sound odd, even backwards, to the general public, but the intent is to identify the questions that need to be answered by scientists and then do the science (i.e, “develop the science”) in order to guide management.
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I’m just curious. Were HUD or HHS involved in this effort in some significant way? The last time I checked they had important policy and program roles in the urban environment and public health.
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conserving can be on a very small scale as well. I recently took over management of a 25 acre horse farm that abuts about 75 other acres of undeveloped agricultural property in a growing suburb. After the owner told me how beautiful the birds had been when it was empty I decided to leave some areas as they were in order to support wildlife. It benefits me when birds descend on the riding ring after a hatch of gnats and it truly is beautiful. Everyone who comes to the farm comments on the wild bird population and those of us who spend many long hours at the farm appreciate the birds and other wildlife that live there. The hawk at the local nature center seems miserable compared to the three juvenile hawks who regularly visited our treetops throughout the spring and summer. Of course we were upset when the foxes ate five of our chickens in one day, however, they also keep the local rodent population at bay and they were fun to watch when they found a new home.
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Talk is cheap. While we applaud the idea of restoration and preservation, this rings totally false to those of us in the West who see the destruction of our landscapes and wildlife. Ken Salazar has shown his disdain for historic preservation by destroying the last of America’s last wild horses and burros, endangering our public lands and the people who live in small communities poisoned by oil and gas development.The Secretary is not to be trusted. He should be replaced by a sincere conservationist. I move that we bring Stewart Udall back from the dead.
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Ginger…Ken’s got a new boss.
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I am with you Ginger, I have been very disappointed in Mr. Salazar so far but then again I was very apprehensive when I first heard he was appointed so I guess I am just being proven right and all my worst fears are coming true.
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Karen Hackey you are SPOT ON!
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I can’t trust Ken Salazar. Something else is up. This must be “doublespeak”.
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Robert….Ken’s got a new boss. Were many of Salazar’s less than desirable policies his own, or the neocons?
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You can start by keeping land use multiple use and making it a priority. Not one shot of you fancy video had a person doing motorized recreation. You want to make trials great but keep the roads that we have open. The anti-access people think the only way to preserve anything is to close it off to people. You say open space is going away then explain where are people going to live. Explain how some states in the west have 75% of the land owed by the federal government and your still wanting to buy up farm land in those states which reduces property tax revenue used to educate these kids. You keep sending jobs over seas and the only jobs our kids will have will be making trails for hikers.
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I agree with Ed. I attended Ken Salizar’s meeting in Albuquerque NM and it was mostly the anti-off highway vehicle environmental groups. I’ve been involved with the Santa Fe National Forest (SFNF) Travel Motorized Rule over the last five years and “We the People” are losing access to the roads that our taxes paid to build. For example in the SFNF Jemez Mountain area the plan closes two-thirds of the roads to motorized vehicles. With an ever growing population, that loves motorized recreation, where are we going to ride if not in the National Forests? Americas Great Outdoor Initiative fails to recognize motorized recreation is a legitimate use of the forests.
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Ed-response to your sentence “Explain how some states in the west have 75% of the land owed by the federal government…”
The vision regarding Western lands originated with John Wesley Powell. He noted that Mormans, who settled the region, limited their communities where they had access to clean water so their communities could be sustainable. Thus, many acres out west should have limited development for residences and commerce. The Western land is different from Eastern land that gets watered naturally. We need to live between our means. Not everyone can indiscriminately own and degrade the land.
Our ideal of everyone owning a piece of land is going to have to be revised. There may come a time when the only clear open land is going to be in the west and it will then belong to every citizen in the US but not so they can “do whatever they want”.
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Maybe when your community does something about the destruction you cause then we can start to discuss more ohv use but as it now stands ohv use is one of the main things, right along with oil and gas drilling and mining, that is destroying our public lands and decimating our wildlife.
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Conservation includes preservation as you will find in a dictionary.
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Please remember that this is a conservation initiative, not a preservation initiative.
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I work with groups that find it easy to come up with money to purchase land or easments to help begin the process of restoring prairie and wetlands. I would ask that money be made available to help with things like seed, parking, look out areas, signs, earth shaping and printing materieals.
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You could begin with banning indiscriminate year round trapping of unprotected species in endangered species reintroduction areas. It’s the most ridiculous premise to expect fragile populations of animals to survive where man is unleashed to do harm to the environment. MT is reintroducing the Swift Fox for the SECOND time while trapping goes on it’s merry way.NM got around a governor’s executive order to ban traps in a wolf reintroduction area for a six month period so the impact of trapping on wolves could be studied but since unprotected species are not regulated trapping continues year round in this area. Collared wolves are disappearing and some are getting around on three legs. The wildlife consumers of America are not going to be responsible if left unchecked for non game species. Either we protect these animals or we say goodbye to them.
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Let’s conserve and restore genetically pure wild bison. Stop spending millions of taxpayers’ dollars to continue the war against the buffalo that the livestock industry has been waging since the 1800′s. Let the Yellowstone Buffalo Roam! Educate yourselves. Get on the e-mail list for Buffalo Field Campaign http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org
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Conservation is great! Please start by STOPPING the slaughter of America’s last, genetically pure, wild bison in Yellowstone National Park.
For more info: http://buffalofieldcampaign.org/
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