Community Groups are Ready to Accelerate Interior Department’s America the Beautiful Initiative

Durango, CO–The Department of the Interior today released the plan for how it will work with state, local and tribal authorities and others to “conserve and restore the lands, waters, and wildlife that support and sustain the nation.” 

Called Conserving and Restoring America the Beautiful 2021, the report recommends a locally led and voluntary nationwide conservation approach to meeting the goal President Biden set in his Executive Order 14008 of “conserving at least 30% of our lands and waterways by 2030” to help reduce the impact of the climate crisis. 

Below is the statement from Conservation Lands Foundation executive director, Brian Sybert: 

“The America the Beautiful Initiative is a smart, restorative and collaborative approach to conservation. The Conservation Lands Foundation and our Friends Grassroots Network represent the best opportunity for the large-scale protections of public lands in the West that are needed to meet goals in this plan. We’re already working with state, local and Tribal governments and are ready to accelerate the Administration’s plan and do right by future generations by conserving these critical land and waters.

“The 80 organizations in our Friends Grassroots Network comprise the thousands of local residents who steward our public lands day in and day out, and we’re eager to work with the Interior Department and Bureau of Land Management to conserve more of the natural places that are needed to restore balance on the land, rebuild local economies, and mitigate the climate emergency. 

“President Biden’s 30x30 commitment is a necessary step toward slowing the mass extinction of species and protecting the biodiversity we need for our food supplies and clean water and air. We’re currently losing 1.5 million acres a year to development and from impacts of climate change, so we need to move smartly and quickly.”

# # # #

[email protected]