[Pollinator] Presidential Memorandum, A 21st Strategy for America's Great Outdoors

Tue Apr 20 08:02:30 PDT 2010

Laurie Davies Adams, Pollinator Partnership Executive Director, participated
last week in the White House Conference on the Great Outdoors and thought
pollinator supporters would be interested in the Memorandum signed by
President Obama at the Conference.  The Memorandum is attached, and the text
is pasted in below.  

As this strategy is implemented, it appears there will be significant
opportunities to "pollinate" the strategy by appropriately including
pollinator education and protection!

********************************************************

THE WHITE HOUSE

   Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release                           April 16, 2010

April 16, 2010

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR

THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE

THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

THE CHAIR OF THE COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

SUBJECT: A 21st Century Strategy for America's Great Outdoors 

Americans are blessed with a vast and varied natural heritage.

>From mountains to deserts and from sea to shining sea, America's

great outdoors have shaped the rugged independence and sense

of community that define the American spirit. Our working

landscapes, cultural sites, parks, coasts, wild lands, rivers,

and streams are gifts that we have inherited from previous

generations. They are the places that offer us refuge from

daily demands, renew our spirits, and enhance our fondest

memories, whether they are fishing with a grandchild in a

favorite spot, hiking a trail with a friend, or enjoying a

family picnic in a neighborhood park. They also are our farms,

ranches, and forests -- the working lands that have fed and

sustained us for generations. Americans take pride in these

places, and share a responsibility to preserve them for our

children and grandchildren.

Today, however, we are losing touch with too many of the places

and proud traditions that have helped to make America special.

Farms, ranches, forests, and other valuable natural resources

are disappearing at an alarming rate. Families are spending

less time together enjoying their natural surroundings. Despite

our conservation efforts, too many of our fields are becoming

fragmented, too many of our rivers and streams are becoming

polluted, and we are losing our connection to the parks, wild

places, and open spaces we grew up with and cherish. Children,

especially, are spending less time outside running and playing,

fishing and hunting, and connecting to the outdoors just down

the street or outside of town.

Across America, communities are uniting to protect the places

they love, and developing new approaches to saving and enjoying

the outdoors. They are bringing together farmers and ranchers,

more land trusts, recreation and conservation groups, sportsmen,

community park groups, governments and industry, and people from

all over the country to develop new partnerships and innovative

programs to protect and restore our outdoors legacy. However,

these efforts are often scattered and sometimes insufficient.

The Federal Government, the Nation's largest land manager, has a

responsibility to engage with these partners to help develop

a conservation agenda worthy of the 21st Century. We must look

to the private sector and nonprofit organizations, as well as

towns, cities, and States, and the people who live and work in

them, to identify the places that mean the most to Americans,

and leverage the support of the Federal Government to help

these community-driven efforts to succeed. Through these

partnerships, we will work to connect these outdoor spaces

to each other, and to reconnect Americans to them.

For these reasons, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Establishment.

(a) There is established the America's Great Outdoors

Initiative (Initiative), to be led by the Secretaries of the

Interior and Agriculture, the Administrator of the Environmental

Protection Agency, and the Chair of the Council on Environmental

Quality (CEQ) and implemented in coordination with the agencies

listed in section 2(b) of this memorandum. The Initiative may

include the heads of other executive branch departments,

agencies, and offices (agencies) as the President may, from time

to time, designate.

(b) The goals of the Initiative shall be to:

(i) Reconnect Americans, especially children, to

America's rivers and waterways, landscapes of national

significance, ranches, farms and forests, great parks,

and coasts and beaches by exploring a variety of

efforts, including:

(A) promoting community-based recreation and

conservation, including local parks, greenways,

beaches, and waterways;

(B) advancing job and volunteer opportunities

related to conservation and outdoor recreation;

and

(C) supporting existing programs and projects

that educate and engage Americans in our history,

culture, and natural bounty.

(ii) Build upon State, local, private, and tribal

priorities for the conservation of land, water,

wildlife, historic, and cultural resources, creating

corridors and connectivity across these outdoor

spaces, and for enhancing neighborhood parks; and

determine how the Federal Government can best advance

those priorities through public private partnerships

and locally supported conservation strategies.

(iii) Use science-based management practices to

restore and protect our lands and waters for future

generations.

Sec. 2. Functions. The functions of the Initiative shall

include:

(a) Outreach. The Initiative shall conduct listening and

learning sessions around the country where land and waters are

being conserved and community parks are being established in

innovative ways. These sessions should engage the full range

of interested groups, including tribal leaders, farmers and

ranchers, sportsmen, community park groups, foresters, youth

groups, businesspeople, educators, State and local governments,

and recreation and conservation groups. Special attention

should be given to bringing young Americans into the

conversation. These listening sessions will inform the reports

required in subsection (c) of this section.

(b) Interagency Coordination. The following agencies

shall work with the Initiative to identify existing resources

and align policies and programs to achieve its goals:

(i) the Department of Defense;

(ii) the Department of Commerce;

(iii) the Department of Housing and Urban

Development;

(iv) the Department of Health and Human Services;

(v) the Department of Labor;

(vi) the Department of Transportation;

(vii) the Department of Education; and

(viii) the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

(c) Reports. The Initiative shall submit, through the

Chair of the CEQ, the following reports to the President:

(i) Report on America's Great Outdoors. By

November 15, 2010, the Initiative shall submit

a report that includes the following:

(A) a review of successful and promising

nonfederal conservation approaches;

(B) an analysis of existing Federal resources

and programs that could be used to complement

those approaches;

(C) proposed strategies and activities to

achieve the goals of the Initiative; and

(D) an action plan to meet the goals of the

Initiative.

The report should reflect the constraints in resources

available in, and be consistent with, the Federal

budget. It should recommend efficient and effective

use of existing resources, as well as opportunities to

leverage nonfederal public and private resources and

nontraditional conservation programs.

(ii) Annual reports. By September 30, 2011, and

September 30, 2012, the Initiative shall submit

reports on its progress in implementing the action

plan developed pursuant to subsection (c)(i)(D) of

this section.

Sec. 3. General Provisions.

(a) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with

applicable law and subject to the availability of any necessary

appropriations.

(b) This memorandum does not create any right or benefit,

substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by

any party against the United States, its departments, agencies,

or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other

person.

(c) The heads of executive departments and agencies shall

assist and provide information to the Initiative, consistent

with applicable law, as may be necessary to carry out the

functions of the Initiative. Each executive department and

agency shall bear its own expenses of participating in the

Initiative.

(d) Nothing in this memorandum shall be construed to

impair or otherwise affect the functions of the Director of

the OMB relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative

proposals.

(e) The Chair of the CEQ is authorized and directed to

publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.

BARACK OBAMA

# # #

Transmitted on behalf of Laurie Davies Adams by~

R. Thomas (Tom) Van Arsdall, Director of Public Affairs

   Pollinator Partnership

   O-(540) 899-3023

   C-(703) 509-4746

   tva at pollinator.org

   Pollinator <http://www.pollinator.org/>  Partnership

   North American <http://www.nappc.org/>  Pollinator Protection Campaign
(NAPPC)

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sonic.net/pipermail/pollinator/attachments/20100420/59c4ac5b/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: President Great Outdoors Memorandum.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 17388 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.sonic.net/pipermail/pollinator/attachments/20100420/59c4ac5b/attachment-0001.pdf>