PRESIDENT OBAMA’S CONSERVATION AGENDA
DEFINING THE NEXT CENTURY OF AMERICAN LAND & WATER CONSERVATION
The Opportunity: As we approach the centennial of our national park system, President Obama can
put his stamp on the second century of American conservation by: 1) protecting places that reflect the
full diversity of America’s people and their story; 2) conserving large landscapes and watersheds
amid a changing climate; and 3) expanding access to the great outdoors.
1. “An American Story”
Core message: “The President believes that America’s national parks, monuments, and conservation
lands should reflect the full diversity of America’s people, culture, and history. These special places
tell “an American Story” like no textbook ever could. That’s why the President has conserved places
in which our heritage is rooted, from the prairies of the Dakotas to the canyons of the Rio Grande,
and dedicated new monuments to American heroes like Cesar Chavez and Harriet Tubman.”
What we want every reporter and partner to say, by 2016: President Obama has set the tone for
the second century of our national parks and public lands by protecting places that reflect the
diversity of the American story and its richness of history and culture.
Potential policies and actions:
 Use the Antiquities Act to create new national monuments that honor peoples’ connection to
the land and historically important - but underrepresented - events, people, and communities.
Examples could include the Organ Mountains (NM) for its importance to both Hispanic and
Tribal communities, and Cedar Mesa (UT), which is proposed by Navajo communities.
 Create new national wildlife refuges, like the Dakota Grasslands, that help ranchers,
sportsmen, and rural communities preserve their heritage and way of life.
 Propose a package of land conservation bills that reflects the President’s priority on diversity.
 Protect historic landmarks and buildings that preserve the history of communities that have
not been historically well represented in America’s conservation system – Native Americans,
Hispanics, Asian-Americans, African Americans and women.
 Create a Presidentially-appointed panel, called the ‘Centennial Heritage Initiative’ to provide
recommendations for enhancing the diversity of our nation's landmarks, conservation lands
and historic sites. The panel would focus on concrete efforts to protect places important to
communities that have not been historically well represented in these efforts.
2. Landscape and Watershed-Scale Conservation
Core Message: “In the face of a changing climate and disappearing open lands, the President
believes in a new approach to conservation that works across local, state, and federal boundaries to
connect, protect, and restore the health and resilience of America’s great landscapes and watersheds,
from the Chesapeake and the Everglades to the Crown of the Continent in Montana.”
What we want every reporter and partner to say by 2016: The Obama Administration led a
fundamental shift in American environmental policy by using the latest science, new partnerships,
and cutting edge mapping tools to improve the health of crucial lands and waters and to make sure
that those lands and their wildlife are resilient in the face of a changing climate. No Administration
has done more to conserve the Everglades, the Crown of the Continent, the Dakota grasslands, the
Chesapeake Bay, and other critical American landscapes and watersheds.
Potential policies and actions:
 Create and expand national wildlife refuges, like the Dakota Grasslands, Hart-Sheldon, and
the Everglades Headwaters, which use modern tools such as conservation easements and
public land protections to preserve working lands and wildlife habitat.
 Use the Antiquities Act to create new landscape-scale monuments that protect intact
landscapes for wildlife and important watersheds such as the Birthplace of Rivers (WV),
Bodie Hills (CA), and Boulder White Clouds (ID).
 Use NRCS resources to facilitate watershed, waterway, and working lands restoration in
priority areas.
 Establish a new mitigation fund that uses energy revenues to restore and protect wildlife
habitat and key watersheds to help them adapt to the impacts of climate change.
 Secure a mandatory and fully-funded LWCF, and emphasize the program’s new focus on
landscape-scale efforts and connectivity of habitats.
 Prioritize a zone-based approach to energy development, using master leasing plans, resource
management plans, and renewable energy zones to protect intact large landscapes, critical
wildlife habitats and important watersheds.
 Launch, and double the size of the 21st Century Conservation Corps to restore lands and
watersheds while doubling youth employment on public lands. This could be accomplished
through existing authorities without seeking legislative changes or appropriations.
3. Access - Opening the Gate to America’s Great Outdoors
Core Message: “To meet the needs of a growing population, the President believes we must expand
opportunities for Americans to get outdoors, stay healthy, and spend time with their families.”
What we want every reporter and partner to say by 2016: Citing Americans’ growing demands
for outdoor recreational opportunities, outdoor learning and healthy lifestyles, the President directed
his Administration to help communities build new parks, conserve open lands, and provide greater
access for hunting, fishing, hiking and other outdoor recreation opportunities on public lands.
Potential policies and actions:
 Use a mandatory, fully-funded LWCF to expand access to existing public lands through
easements that allow new access points, boat landings, and other new opportunities for
outdoor recreation. This can be accomplished administratively and is a top tier issue with
sportsmen and urban communities nationwide.
 Encourage the First Lady to include outdoor learning and recreation for elementary school
children as part of her ‘Let’s Move’ initiative.
 Use the Antiquities Act to create new national monuments that enhance outdoor recreation
opportunities near major population centers such as the San Gabriel Mountains (CA).
 Create urban national wildlife refuges that provide opportunities for hands on, outdoor
education using the Valle de Oro NWR model.
 Propose a package of bills that would create new outdoor recreation opportunities.
 Establish a new ‘front-country’ designation that helps conserve lands that are of high
recreational value and close to population centers.