January 3, 2013
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
We are writing to express our strong support for Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.
Secretary Salazar has been a steadfast and effective leader implementing a
comprehensive conservation program that conserves large landscapes, protects
wildlife, works with all stakeholders, expands urban parks and refuges, restores and
increases access to lakes and rivers, and engages our youth outdoors. We look
forward to continuing to work with Secretary Salazar to implement this 21st century
vision for conservation.
A hallmark of Secretary Salazar’s approach is partnerships with states, localities and
landowners. These collaborative efforts protect working landscapes, water quality and
restore wetlands and have spurred new wildlife corridors, refuges, and monuments.
The Department of the Interior is working with farmers, ranchers and community
partners such as refuge Friends to protect critical landscapes as well as making historic
investments in places like Montana and the Florida Everglades. And the Department’s
work with states, industry, and conservation groups has forged a strong consensus
around renewable energy on public lands that ensures we don’t have to choose
between our natural heritage and a more sustainable future.
Over the next four years, your Administration has a unique opportunity to conserve
large landscapes and ecosystems, protect wildlife, establish parks, refuges, forests and
wilderness areas, and expand hunting and fishing access. We look forward to working
with Secretary Salazar and your Administration to protect America’s unique natural
heritage for future generations.
Sincerely,
National:
National Wildlife Refuge Association
The Wilderness Society
Marine Conservation Institute
Wildlife Forever
The Trust for Public Land
Regional:
Arthur R. Marshall Foundation for The Everglades, Florida
Cahaba River Society, Alabama
“Ding” Darling Wildlife Society, Florida
Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges, Alaska
Friends of Anahuac Refuge, Texas
Friends of Back Bay, Virginia
Friends of Black Bayou, Inc., Louisiana
Friends of Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, Maryland
Friends of Cherry Valley, Pennsylvania
Friends of Craig Brook, Inc., Maine
Friends of Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge Complex, Inc., Florida
Friends of Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge, Idaho
Friends of Erie National Wildlife Refuge, Pennsylvania
Friends of Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, New Jersey
Friends of Hackmatack NWR, Illinois
Friends of Hakalau Forest NWR, Hawaii
Friends of Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge, New York
Friends of Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico
Friends of Louisiana Wildlife Refuges, Inc., Louisiana
Friends of Maga Ta-Hohpi WPA, South Dakota
Friends of Maine’s Seabird Islands, Maine
Friends of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Oregon
Friends of Mashpee NWR, Massachusetts
Friends of Midway Atoll, Hawaii
Friends of Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge, Iowa
Friends of Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, Massachusetts
Friends of Patuxent, Maryland
Friends of Plum and Pilot Islands, Wisconsin
Friends of Pondicherry NWR, New Hampshire
Friends of Pool 9, Upper Miss Refuge, Inc., Iowa
Friends of Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, Delaware
Friends of Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, Maine
Friends of St. Catherine Creek Refuge, Mississippi
Friends of Sherburne NWR, Minnesota
Friends of Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge, Missouri
Friends of Sunkhaze Meadows, Maine
Friends of Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge, Minnesota
Friends of Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge, New York
Friends of the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, Florida
Friends of the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, Inc., New Mexico
Friends of the Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Texas
Friends of the Desert National Wildlife Refuge Complex, Nevada
Friends of the Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge, Washington
Friends of the Migratory Bird/Duck Stamp, Maryland
Friends of the Minnesota Valley, Minnesota
Friends of the Montezuma Wetlands Complex, New York
Friends of the National Wildlife Refuges of Rhode Island, Rhode Island
Friends of the Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge, Indiana
Friends of the Potomac River Refuges, Virginia
Friends of the Refuge Headwaters, Minnesota
Friends of the Red River National Wildlife Refuge, Louisiana
Friends of the San Luis Valley National Wildlife Refuges, Colorado
Friends of the Silvio O. Conte NFWR, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Vermont
Friends of the Tampa Bay National Wildlife Refuges, Florida
Friends of the Tualatin Refuge, Oregon
Friends of the Willamette Valley National Wildlife Refuge Complex, Oregon
International Wildlife Refuge Alliance, Michigan
Kilauea Point Natural History Association, Hawaii
Pelican Island Preservation Society, Florida
San Francisco Bay Wildlife Society, California
SEWEE (Southeastern Wildlife & Environmental Education), South Carolina
St. Marks Refuge Association, Florida
Tensas River Refuge Association, Louisiana