{"id":15322,"date":"2021-08-19T15:13:36","date_gmt":"2021-08-19T20:13:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pnts.org\/new\/?p=15322"},"modified":"2021-11-30T12:46:00","modified_gmt":"2021-11-30T17:46:00","slug":"america-the-beautiful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pnts.org\/new\/america-the-beautiful\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018America the Beautiful\u2019 on National Trails"},"content":{"rendered":"

National Trails and Public Lands Advocates react to the Biden Administration’s call for conservation.<\/h2>\n
\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

This oxbow on the Connecticut River was made famous by Hudson Bay painters. Dry Knob along the Monadnock Trail section of the New England Trail. Massachusettes. Courtesy Bart Smith.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

On May 6, 2021, a 24-page report called \u201cConserving and Restoring America the Beautiful\u201d outlined a vision of a locally led, voluntary, nationwide effort to \u201cconserve and restore the lands and waters upon which we all depend, and that bind us together as Americans\u201d. The report was submitted to the National Climate Task Force by the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture and Commerce, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the White House\u2019s Council on Environmental Quality to provide initial recommendations on how to advance an inclusive and collaborative conservation vision following President Biden\u2019s Executive Order 14008, “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad.”<\/a><\/p>\n

A central recommendation of that report was a call\u00a0 <\/span>to \u201cjoin together in pursuit of a goal of conserving at least 30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030\u201d. In addition to this call-to-action, the \u201cAmerica the Beautiful\u201d report lays out eight core principles that should be adhered to while pursuing that goal, including \u201cHonor(ing) Tribal Sovereignty and Support(ing) the Priorities of Tribal Nations,\u201d creating jobs and supporting healthy communities, using \u201cScience as a Guide,\u201d and \u201cHonor(ing) Private Property Rights and Support(ing) the Voluntary Stewardship Efforts of Private Landowners\u201d.<\/p>\n

What follows are reactions to this report from a few organizations and partners representing a cross-section of National Trails System stakeholders.<\/p>\n

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“As the nation\u2019s first all-water National Historic Trail, the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail provides a framework to achieve large landscape conservation as it connects national wildlife refuges, national parks and trails, and significant Indigenous sites such as Werowocomoco, a place of Indigenous leadership and ancestral homeland on Virginia\u2019s York River. A national 30 x 30 conservation goal will contribute to the ongoing conservation efforts happening in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and it will also help to ensure that the Chesapeake Trail, and the associated Indigenous sites and history, will be preserved and recognized for the benefit of this and future generations.”<\/em><\/p>\n