Renewing our. Lands and Waters. Comments on America s Great Outdoors initiative

Renewing our Lands and Waters Comments on America s Great Outdoors initiative 1

The grand sweep of the Crown of the Continent, Montana. John Lambing Executive Summary A Critical Moment in the History of Land and Water Conservation in America America has a long and successful conservation tradition and Americans still believe strongly in conservation of our natural and recreational resources. Today, however, our country s remarkable conservation legacy hangs in the balance. A new wave of threats could well undo what has been accomplished. The cumulative impact of these trends, if we do not respond to them, will be an accelerated fragmentation of the American landscape the separation of plants and animals from their essential habitats, of watersheds from downstream estuaries, of people from experiences in the outdoors, and of Americans from our common historic and natural heritage. Our Vision and Goals for the America s Great Outdoors Initiative The Nature Conservancy s vision for the America s Great Outdoors Initiative is to create and sustain a network of large areas of restored and conserved land, water and coastlines around which Americans can build productive and healthy lives. An operational America s Great Outdoors Initiative that is built on innovation and competition will provide the best return for the federal government s investment in conservation over the short and long term. How an America s Great Outdoors Initiative Can Help to Achieve This Vision While conservation is important and useful at every scale, to be successful in preserving and restoring the overall health of our land, water, and coastal areas, the America s Great Outdoors Initiative should focus its resources and apply the most cost-effective strategies and tools to three distinct kinds of conservation projects: Large landscapes that can become focal points for conservation through strong private-public partnerships (Landscape Partnership Projects) Expansive aquatic systems that are already a national focus and in some phase of restoration Including: the Great Lakes, Mississippi River, Chesapeake Bay, Puget Sound, Gulf of Mexico/Louisiana Wetlands, the Greater Everglades, California Bay Delta, and the Colorado River Basin (Large Watershed Projects) Metropolitan/urban greenspace corridors that may also include cultural and historical features (Metropolitan Greenspace Projects) Working initially within existing authorities and budgets, the President s Council on Environmental Quality should facilitate the creation of an operational America s Great Outdoors Initiative with advice and support from the Office of Management and Budget and with the operational leadership of the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency that: For Landscape Partnership Projects, designs a from-the-bottom-up competition through which coalitions of Federal, state, local and tribal governments and non-governmental organizations apply for designation as America s Great Outdoors landscapes. Selected sites would then be eligible for Federal catalyst and coordination funding, receive priority support from several Federal programs, and benefit from the ongoing cooperation and assistance of Federal agencies to accomplish landscape objectives. For Large Watershed Projects, CEQ would establish a framework for consistent, long term Federal support and for the coordination of governmental action to achieve watershed goals. For Metropolitan Greenspace Projects, the Department of Interior would lead a competitive process to select metro areas for Federal agency assistance. The Conservancy proposes that within a year of establishing this program, initial projects could be up and running. Significant progress could be made within the first two years. By the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day in 2020, 25 Landscape Partnership Projects, all of the Large Watershed Projects, and 10 Metropolitan Greenspace Projects should be substantially completed. 2

Administrative Actions and Legislation to Support the America s Great Outdoors Initiative While our recommendation for conserving large areas of land and water can and should be advanced using existing authorities, America s Great Outdoors projects would work more effectively with several key administrative and legislative changes including: Fully fund and improve the operation of the Land and Water Conservation Fund at $900 million per year and make it a permanent, dedicated source of conservation funding. Establish a multi-agency catalyst fund for high priority large scale projects by pooling agency resources over three year blocks of time. Change the operation of cost share and reserve programs under the Farm Bill to encourage targeting of at least a portion of these funds to America s Great Outdoors projects to achieve measurable impacts on the watershed and/or landscape scale and to better support private land conservation by ranchers, farmers and forest land owners. Ensure the rigorous use of the mitigation protocol (avoid, minimize, offset) across Federal programs including the Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts. Adopt administrative and operational changes to allow a far greater level of interagency cooperation and cost effective program delivery at the landscape level. Adopt legislation that includes coordinated changes to the tax code to encourage private land conservation. Launching the Program To launch the program described here, by January 1, 2011, the President should: Use the America s Great Outdoors report from the agencies to develop and release a plan for an operational program. This plan should include specific goals for the first five years and beyond. Issue an Executive Order that designates lead agencies, sets out the framework for the Landscape Partnership and Metropolitan Greenspace pilot projects, requires parallel processes for Large Watershed Projects, and establishes a working group to create a framework for evaluating project success against the five year goals. Within the boundaries of existing law, task CEQ and OMB to develop procedures for a new level of interagency cooperation and budgeting for America s Great Outdoors projects. Pool funding in the 2012 budget to provide catalyst grants for projects selected in competitive processes. Conclusion It is difficult to imagine our children, the extended family of this great nation, ever being anything but eternally grateful for our acting now to create a durable America s Great Outdoors Initiative to provide the means for the American people to work together to save the land, the rivers and streams, the ocean coasts, and great marshes that they will need for their health and happiness in the years long after we are all gone. Upper Skagit River of Washington Bridget Besaw 3

Hudson Valley, New York. Carl Heilman Purpose of this Document This is the formal input from The Nature Conservancy to the America s Great Outdoors outreach process. The Conservancy has also commented on America s Great Outdoors through several of our 50 state-based offices on important land conservation issues in their regions. The Nature Conservancy Founded in 1951, The Nature Conservancy is a global non-profit conservation organization whose mission is to preserve the plants, animals, and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. The Conservancy relies heavily on science in our decision-making and is acutely conscious of the connections between human well being and natural systems. The Conservancy has a million members and programs and projects in all 50 U.S. states and more than 30 countries. Our state programs are advised by Boards of Trustees who represent conservation, science, business and philanthropic leadership in their communities. Through these citizens and through our more than 3,000 staff located across the United States, we are rooted in the importance of place. Over the course of our history, we have directly conserved almost 24 million acres in the United States. The Importance of the America s Great Outdoors Outreach Process Because of all of our years working in the American countryside, the Conservancy believes in the wisdom of the American people to guide the conservation and management of this country s natural resources. We applaud the participation of senior Administration officials in listening sessions to gather ideas about the future of conservation. Our staff and our members have participated in almost all of these sessions, and we, too, have learned much from them that we have incorporated in these recommendations. Natural America Remains Critical to the Welfare of the American People North America and the United States are blessed with a diversity and abundance of natural resources, natural systems and habitats that have been central to our growth and prosperity as a nation and a foundation for our way of life. Despite urbanization and the increasing use of technology, our health, welfare, economy, culture and identity still depend heavily on the quality and productivity of our land, water, oceans and coasts. While we rely on nature for our well being, no place in our country is immune from at least some human impacts. We depend on nature, and it now depends upon us for its survival. 4

Conservation Has Become Part of the American Way of Thinking The United States has long been a global leader in the creation of parks and in the conservation of natural resources. Beginning in the last half of the 19th century, conservation and care of our environment have been accepted by the American people as an essential role of government. In the past decade alone, voters have passed statewide and local open space ballot measures at an overall rate of 73 percent, showing their strong support for public investments in conservation. Over the last year, The Nature Conservancy has conducted several public opinion polls to better understand the current thinking of people about these issues. The most significant findings are: More than three-quarters of voters believe we can continue to protect the environment while strengthening the economy. 1 Support for investments in conservation stems from voters strong personal connections to the environment. More than four in five (81%) say they have visited a state or local park in the past year and a majority of voters report having visited a national park in the past year. 2 A striking 86% of voters support using funds from oil and gas fees to help preserve our natural areas. That support goes across party lines: 89% of Democrats, 89% of Independents, and 83% of Republicans. 3 More than three-quarters of the electorate (76%) express support for maintaining at least the minimum funding level originally established for the Land and Water Conservation Fund in the 1960s: $900 million a year. 4 America has a long and successful conservation tradition and Americans continue to believe strongly in conservation of our natural and recreational resources. A Critical Moment in the History of Land and Water Conservation in America Today, however, our country s remarkable conservation legacy hangs in the balance. A new wave of threats could well undo what has been accomplished: A still growing population and sprawling residential and commercial development are consuming more than 3.5 million acres of rural land each year, including ranches, farms and timberlands. Farmers, ranchers and forest land owners are finding it increasingly difficult to retain their lands in natural resource use in the face of increasing taxes, development pressures, competing land uses and changing markets. Climate change is affecting the productivity of rural lands and the viability of wildlife habitat; it is altering traditional wildfire regimes, hastening the spread of forest pests and diseases, producing more erratic weather patterns more floods, droughts, and major storms, and will affect our coastlines with rising sea levels. Demands on water resources are exceeding the supply placing particular pressure on rural water users; we have drastically altered the flows of rivers and streams through dam operation and water withdrawal. Conventional and alternative energy development and power transmission lines are expected to affect vast areas of land. Excessive nutrients particularly from agricultural runoff and other non-point sources of pollution are damaging rivers, lakes and coastal waters. 1 Nature Conservancy poll, FM3 and Public Opinion Strategies, 2009 2 Nature Conservancy poll, FM3 and Public Opinion Strategies, 2009 3 Nature Conservancy poll, FM3 and Public Opinion Strategies, 2010 4 Nature Conservancy poll, FM3 and Public Opinion Strategies, 2010 5

Intensive use and development is stressing coastal areas, near-shore waters and estuaries. Invasive aquatic species and other pests and pathogens are becoming particularly damaging to our freshwater and forest resources. People, particularly young urban and suburban residents, are losing their connection to the land and to experiences in nature. The cumulative impact of these trends, if we do not respond to them, will be an accelerated fragmentation of the American landscape the separation of plants and animals from their essential habitats, of watersheds from downstream estuaries, of people from experiences in the outdoors, and of Americans from our common historic and natural heritage. Cottonwood Ranch, Wyoming. David Stubbs Meeting the Challenge of Conservation in the 21st Century The AGO listening sessions reveal an exciting new trend in American conservation that shows great promise in addressing the many threats to our land, water and coasts. Landowners, businesses, non-profit organizations, and local, state, tribal and federal agencies are working together to take responsibility for the restoration and conservation of large areas watersheds, whole natural systems, and whole landscapes. In place after place we have heard citizens talking not just about their backyards, but also about the Chesapeake Bay or the whole Crown of the Continent in western Montana. Increasingly, they see the connections between their well being and the health of these larger places. The Conservancy s science confirms the value of an ecosystem-based approach to meeting the many challenges America s great outdoors face over the next 50 years. It is our view that the only effective response to the combination of threats facing America s land and water today is to use multiple tools and techniques to conserve whole watersheds and natural areas that can then provide habitat for the range of native species, productive areas for the use of natural resources and the full range of benefits to human communities. While publicly owned parks and forests are often essential to large landscape conservation, almost all large landscapes include people and the working farms, forests and ranches that are vital to our economy and to the American way of life. Successful conservation will require finding ways to achieve both public and private stewardship of America s land and water. Our Vision and Goals for the America s Great Outdoors Initiative The Nature Conservancy s vision for America s Great Outdoors Initiative is to create and sustain a network of large areas of restored and conserved land, water and coastal ecosystems around which Americans can build productive and healthy lives. An operational America s Great Outdoors Initiative that is built on innovation and competition will provide the best return for the federal government s investment in conservation over the short and long term. The following goals are encompassed by this vision: Protect ecosystem integrity and connectivity. Ecosystem fragmentation impairs the survival of plants, fish and wildlife and the natural systems on which they depend, as well as the many benefits healthy ecosystems provide to human communities. Restore and protect water resources. Water quantity and quality to sustain habitat and for human use are dependent upon whole watershed conservation strategies. 6

Provide access to high quality outdoor recreation for all Americans. The health and fitness of children depends upon having safe places to play; we believe that family life is enhanced by access to outdoor relaxation and adventure in places both close to home and in remote natural areas across the country. Assist fish, wildlife and other natural resources and human communities in adapting to climate change. The conservation and forward-thinking management of large, connected landscapes will be a key factor in helping people and the natural systems on which we depend to be resilient to a changing climate. For example, the protection of large watersheds and their wetlands is essential to mitigating the impacts of flood and drought that result from changing weather patterns. Sustain the working farms, ranches and forests so important to our economy and our environment. Private owners hold 70% of land in America; these working lands provide important wildlife habitat, are a foundation of much of the American economy, and are integral to our culture. Protect, maintain and restore the health and biological diversity of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes ecosystems and resources. Nearly half of the country s population lives in coastal counties and millions of visitors enjoy our nation s seashores each year. The ocean, our coasts and estuaries, and the Great lakes are critical to the social, ecological and cultural fabric of our country. Protect and interpret the cultural resources that are part of our national heritage. In many places cultural resources are intertwined with natural resources. Enhance the economic and environmental viability and the quality of life of metropolitan areas and reinforce Lake erie marsh. Richard Baumer the connections of urban areas and the surrounding countryside. Federal, state, and local parks, greenways, trails and natural areas in or around urban metropolitan areas are essential to economic development, buffering cities from some of the impacts of global warming and fostering the health and well being of the American people. Involve and engage all Americans, particularly young people and people of color, in the conservation and enjoyment of nature. Providing the American people, working as individuals and through their governments, associations and institutions with the means to achieve these goals and attain this vision is a great challenge especially given the very real financial problems now faced by governments at every level. But we cannot turn away from the threats to the health of our land and water. How these goals might be accomplished under the umbrella of the America s Great Outdoors Initiative is the subject of these comments. How an America s Great Outdoors Initiative Can Help to Achieve This Vision Overall approach While the creation of parks, the conservation of land and water and restoration are important and useful at every scale, to be successful in conserving the overall health of America s land and water, the America s Great Outdoors Initiative should focus its resources and apply the most cost effective conservation strategies and tools for achieving substantial measurable progress toward meeting the goals listed above in three distinct kinds of large scale conservation projects: 7

Landscape Partnership Projects: Large landscapes that have become focal points for conservation through strong private-public partnerships. Projects could launch within the first year, with substantial and measurable progress made toward achieving sustainable conservation goals in 25 such projects within 5-10 years. Large Watershed Projects: Expansive aquatic systems that are already a national focus and in some phase of restoration Including: the Great Lakes, Mississippi River, Chesapeake Bay, Puget Sound, Gulf of Mexico/Louisiana Wetlands, the Greater Everglades, California Bay Delta, and the Colorado River Basin. Projects could launch within the first year, with substantial and measurable progress made in achieving sustainable conservation goals in all of the named projects within 5-10 years. Metropolitan Greenspace Projects: Metropolitan/urban greenspace corridors that may also include cultural and historical features. Projects could launch within the first year, with substantial and measurable progress made in achieving sustainable conservation goals in 10 such projects within 5-10 years. Taken together, and sustained in a healthy condition over time, these areas of land and water can create a natural resource framework for America s future. The Nature Conservancy proposes that by the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day in 2020, 25 Landscape Partnership Projects, all of the Large Watershed Projects and 10 Metropolitan Greenspace Projects will be substantially completed. Each of the three types of areas requires its own strategies, but all projects should: Operate at a watershed, ecosystem or metropolitan area scale Take into account the needs of people and nature Recognize the importance of diverse citizens participating in decisions that affect the places where they live and work whether in rural or urban areas Achieve a new level of collaboration and cooperation among government and tribal agencies Recognize that success requires a long term and consistent commitment of resources Use competitive processes and pilot projects to get the best efforts up and running quickly Employ rigorous priority setting and focus on high priority areas in the expenditure of limited resources Build on the successes of the past and the use of existing government authorities wherever possible Minimize new cycles of planning where plans already exist Increase flexibility of funding and program delivery by removing bureaucratic obstacles to on-the-ground action Actively encourage young people to play an important role in creating their own future An Operational America s Great Outdoors Initiative An operational program should provide the means for government agencies and other organizations to work effectively together in each of the three types of project areas to accomplish their objectives: For Landscape Partnership Projects, the President s Council on Environmental Quality, with advice and support from the Office of Management and Budget, should facilitate the establishment of an America s Great Outdoors Initiative Office led jointly by the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture that also includes the participation of the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Department of Defense including the Army Corps of Engineers. This office would administer the Landscape Partnership Program. 8

For Large Watershed Projects, CEQ with advice and support from OMB should oversee the management, budgeting, tracking and evaluation of projects by departmental lead agencies. For Metropolitan Greenspace Projects, CEQ with advice and support from OMB should facilitate the creation of an Urban Greenspace program led by the Department of the Interior with participation from EPA, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Department of Transportation. In each case the participating agencies should be charged with establishing the project goals and measures and the progress reporting requirements for projects of that type. Farm in Michigan. jsorbieus/flickrcc Wood storks in Everglades National Park in Florida. Kevin Barry High Line Park in New York City. David Berkowitz/FlickrCC How the Three Project Categories Should Work Landscape Partnerships Public and tribal agencies, NGOs, and local communities have come to realize that piecemeal conservation yields diminishing returns and that we should be working to conserve large natural landscapes that are defined by the needs of fish and wildlife and the way people live, work and play in these places. This category of places should also include estuaries and coastal land and seascapes. There is a groundswell of place-based, collaborative efforts to sustain large landscapes; federal funding and programs should be enhanced to empower these efforts. Large landscape efforts range from several hundred thousand acres to entire watersheds and large ecosystems. Some of many examples include: Northern Everglades, Alabama River/Mobile Delta Corridor, Central Appalachians, Hudson Valley, Penobscot River Watershed, Maumee Basin of the Great Lakes, Upper Peninsula (Michigan) Forests, Crown of the Continent, East Side Oregon Forests, the Pioneers (ID), Colorado Plateau (UT, CO, AZ, NM), Longleaf Pine Initiative, Keeping Maine s Forests Initiative, and the Northern Sierra Partnership. The America s Great Outdoors Initiative should commit money, people, interagency coordination, and cooperative decision-making to priority sites. These sites should be selected through a from-the-bottomup, competitive process that supports community coalitions that have come together around landscape scale conservation goals. (Community coalitions might include the local branches of federal agencies, state and local agencies, tribal governments, non-profit organizations, Resource Conservation Districts, business and landowner organizations and other citizens groups). Federal agencies should support local, collaborative efforts rather than be the top-down driver of these efforts. Maintaining the delicate balance between Federal support and local and community initiative is important to long term success. The program should be based on the use of existing authorities, but can be improved by legislative and policy changes discussed below. Federal land acquisition and designation would continue to be important tools within the framework of landscape coalitions, as would easements to prevent the fragmentation of working lands. With initial facilitation and coordination from CEQ and with the advice and support of OMB, a team of senior officials headed by DOI and USDA and including, EPA, DOD and NOAA should: 9

Launch an operational America s Great Outdoors Initiative (FY12) by inviting a small number of initial pilot projects that exemplify the goals and outcomes of the program (see below) to participate in a pilot competition. Rapid action should be an important criterion for selection as a pilot project. Conduct an application process and criteria for selection for the next round of projects. Develop multi-year project agreements. Monitor progress and make recommendations for a full scale program. CEQ (with support from OMB) should coordinate only the start up of the program, after which it should be institutionalized in the agencies. Hudson Valley, New York. Carl Heilman Proposed criteria for project selection should include: Landscape of national significance: Landscape and, where relevant, related coastal features, warrants federal investment given the presence of major federal protected areas or land holdings or previous investment in private conservation, threatened and endangered species, major wildlife corridors, important water resources, and conformance with existing federal and state conservation plans including State Comprehensive Wildlife Action Plans, Landscape Conservation Cooperative Plans and USFWS Endangered Species Recovery Plans. Strong private-public partnership around a landscape vision: Local residents, multiple NGOs, state and federal agencies are actively collaborating around a landscape vision and are capable of delivering landscape scale results. Where multiple federal agencies exist in a landscape, they are actively working together (or have potential to) around shared conservation goals and objectives. Leverage: Federal funds can be leveraged with multiple funding sources, including, but not limited to, state funds, private funds, and private landowner donations of conservation easements. Local Support: Strong support of local community and elected officials. Community support and leadership around a conservation plan is central to the sustainability of conservation outcomes. Feasibility: Tangible results on landscape level goals are achievable over five years. Connectivity: The project contributes to the connection of existing protected areas, river and wetland systems, and migration corridors. Adaptation to climate change: The conservation outcomes will enhance the resiliency of the landscape to the potential effects of climate change. The project has been identified in the planning of Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) as important to the protection of habitat in the face of climate change. 10

Geographic distribution: Focal areas should be representative of America s diverse natural resources and special places. Project applications should address the ability to meet these criteria and identify deliverable, five-year outcomes against landscape level goals and objectives established by the landscape partnerships. Landscape coalitions (partnerships of government, tribal, and NGOs joining together to conserve Partnership Landscapes) selected through this process should then be eligible for the following benefits to advance their landscape plans and conservation work: Matching multi-year catalyst grants to facilitate implementation of landscape scale conservation. Where Landscape Partnerships already have a landscape plan of action and coordinated implementation, AGO should not require new levels of planning to become eligible for project selection and focus but a simple standard plan format should be developed to encourage parallel action at many locations. Priority and streamlined processes for federal funding programs in the landscape including, but not limited, to: 1. Land and Water Conservation Fund Federal and state funding 2. Forest Legacy Program 3. Cooperative Endangered Species Fund Grant Program if the area is already part of a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP), other species recovery funds, and funding that may result from climate change adaptation planning and implementation programs (It would also be desirable for states to concentrate the use of Federal fish and wildlife funds allocated to states under various programs (State Wildlife Action Plan Grants, Dingell-Johnson, Pittman-Robertson) in these areas) 4. Farm bill cost share and reserve programs including expanded use of the Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative (CCPI) 5. Water Resources Development Act continuing authority programs 6. The application of various conservation tax incentives (as noted below some such incentives should be expressly designed for use in these program areas) 7. The accelerated use of ecosystem scale mitigation of infrastructure and development projects including watershed scale wetlands mitigation and other ecosystem scale approaches to mitigation under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act 8. NOAA restoration and land conservation programs (including Community Coastal Restoration Grants, CELCP, Open Rivers, National Estuarine Research Reserve capital funding) 9. EPA Clean Water Act Section 319 Funds, State Clean Water Revolving Loan Fund Program, and EPA Watershed Protection Funds 10. Superfund and similar toxics remediation programs The ability to pool Federal funding and the flexible use of such funds to meet the objectives set out in landscape plans The opportunity to use new mechanisms for multi-year budgeting Full funding for Payments in lieu of taxes and Refuge Revenue Sharing on Federal lands within the partnership landscape Accelerated designation of lands for special status (Wild and Scenic Rivers, Wilderness Areas, National Estuarine Research Reserves, etc.) where the landscape partnership plan recommends such designation 11

Funding for mitigation of transportation and energy facility siting A commitment of ongoing interagency cooperation within the project area Large Watershed Projects Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay, Puget Sound, Mississippi River, Gulf of Mexico/Louisiana Wetlands, California Bay Delta, Greater Everglades, Colorado River These specific places are often talked about in the context of the America s Great Outdoors Initiative. All of them, however, already have some level of multi-agency Federal and state involvement. Some, like the Chesapeake Bay and the Everglades, have been underway for many years, but they have proceeded slowly with considerable difficulty and with varying levels of funding. Others, like the Gulf of Mexico, have never been funded comprehensively and require accelerated investment and cooperative action. Large amounts of money, invested in targeted and strategic ways, over a long time period are required to accomplish restoration of these areas and in most cases there is also a significant regulatory component required to reduce water pollution and prevent further habitat degradation. These projects should be grouped in their own category, should not be subject to re-designation and should not be slowed down by another cycle of planning if planning has already been completed, but they do require stronger parallel processes, better accountability and realistic and consistent funding to achieve a greater level of success. For all Large Watershed Projects, CEQ working with the relevant agencies should: Formally designate or re-designate a lead agency and a lead person within that agency to direct the restoration effort. Create or continue an interagency state/federal council or task force to make policy decisions and ensure operational coordination. The council should be staffed by the lead agency with support from other participating agencies. Create a single citizens advisory panel and a single scientific advisory panel for each project Re-affirm project objectives. Adopt a five-year multi-agency financing plan including specific provisions for shared and pooled funding to accomplish project objectives. Identify a single agency to compile criteria for and monitor progress on all of the named projects so that progress can be measured to consistent standards. Identify an agency to compile and disseminate best practices and lessons learned from all projects and develop a plan for cross-agency sharing of resources and tools to produce cost-effective results. Gulf of Mexico. Erika Nortemann/TNC Colorado River at Sorrel River Ranch in Utah. Tom Till 12

These project areas should also receive priority for the following benefits to advance their project objectives: Priority and streamlined processes for federal funding programs including, but not limited, to: 1. Army Corps restoration activities authorized by the Water Resource Development Act 2. Farm Bill cost share and reserve programs with a focus on reducing non-point sources of nutrients, including expanded use of CCPI 3. State Revolving Loan Fund Program 4. National Estuary Program 5. Ecosystem-based/watershed scale wetlands mitigation 6. Superfund money for cleanup of residual toxic sites 7. Land and Water Conservation Fund 8. Water Resources Development Act continuing authority programs 9. The application of various conservation tax incentives (as noted below some such incentives should be expressly designed for use in AGO areas) 10. The accelerated use of watershed scale wetlands mitigation and other ecosystem scale approaches to mitigation under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act 11. NOAA restoration and land conservation programs (including Community Restoration, CELCP, and National Estuarine Research Reserve capital funding) 12. Funding for mitigation of transportation and energy facility siting 13. Enhanced funding through EPA Clean Water Act Programs such as the National Estuary Program The ability to pool Federal funding and to use those funds more flexibly to meet the objectives set out in landscape plans The opportunity to use new mechanisms for multi-year budgeting Urban and Metropolitan Greenspace Projects A separate competitive program should be conducted by the Department of the Interior as the lead agency for metropolitan greenspace projects including sites with cultural and historical features. We believe strongly that this should be an important part of the initiative: It is essential that our society provide opportunities for contact with nature and the outdoors for a new and more diverse generation of Americans. Citizens are willing and able to participate in shaping the future of the American landscape, if they come to know and enjoy parks, farmland and the recreation in the outdoors. Urban areas depend upon the surrounding countryside not just for recreation, but for their water and food supplies. This provides the opportunity to build economic connections between cities and surrounding areas that can in turn help to finance regional conservation initiatives. In addition, many important cultural and historic features are located near urban areas and can be incorporated into the metropolitan greenspace projects. Particularly important is the recognition and incorporation of the National Heritage Area Program in this aspect of the initiative. 13

The vast majority of Americans live in urban and suburban areas. And many of these areas depend on healthy rural areas to supply clean water and other environmental services. Cities and suburbs must be safe and enjoyable places to live to prevent urban areas from further spilling over into the surrounding countryside. Isolated parks, while important, cannot achieve these goals. Metropolitan scale park and greenspace systems can provide outdoor adventure close to home, protect wildlife habitat and water resources, and connect city and country in a positive way. Such systems lend themselves to a similar approach to that which we have suggested for Partnership Landscapes: An interagency council working with the Department of the Interior as the lead agency to develop and shape the program. In this case the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency should also be members of the council. (The Department of Transportation can play an important role by encouraging state agencies and Metropolitan Planning Organizations to develop and incorporate ecosystem-based regional green print analyses of Regional Transportation Plans. These would identify critical natural resources, agriculture and working forest lands, and recreation spaces. Federal transportation funding could be provided for regional conservation planning). The council should select criteria for pilot projects. As is proposed for the Large Landscape category of projects, program and financial incentives should be available to the metropolitan greenspace projects selected in a competitive process including the availability of flexible planning and coordination funding. Teenagers at Willow Grove Lake Preserve in New Jersey. Amy Deputy C&O Canal National Historical Park. M.V. Jantzen/FlickrCC Teenagers at Willow Grove Lake Preserve in New Jersey. Amy Deputy The Role of Young People in Shaping the Future of Conservation The Administration should advance and promote policies, programs and initiatives that successfully engage youth in meaningful connections with natural landscapes. Coordinated through the Department of Youth in the Department of the Interior, special emphasis must be focused on engaging urban and underserved communities of color, and collaborations with private entities that can demonstrate a proven track record. This agenda should advance three broad strategies: Create long term strategies to support an employment pipeline for the next generation of conservationists, with special emphasis on initiatives that provide sustained contact with nature from adolescence to college/graduate school, through education and paid job opportunities in natural resource management, interpretation, outreach, etc. Engage diverse audiences in experiences in the great outdoors through targeted outreach and communications initiatives to make outdoor experiences more culturally relevant. Conduct research to understand and remove the barriers preventing youth from underserved communities from connecting with the great outdoors provide both fiscal and programmatic opportunities for the implementation of solutions at all levels. 14

Specific recommendations include: Build the Pipeline: Employ and Empower Youth on natural landscapes through volunteer and community service opportunities, employment and other means by building upon the Department of the Interior s 21st Century Conservation Corps program. Support passage of the Public Lands Service Corps Act (H.R. 1612 / S. 1442) and similar legislative initiatives that would expand the capacity for service work on federal, state, local, tribal and private lands, build and maintain the necessary infrastructure to connect youth with the great outdoors, engage and employ youth, especially youth from communities of color, and diversify our conservation constituency. Increase Access to and Promote Urban Green Spaces, particularly in low-income communities with significant health disparities, by eliminating park, playground and natural space deficit, providing adequate funding mechanisms for outdoor infrastructure, increasing safety in parks, creating safe routes to the parks, playgrounds and natural spaces, including better connecting green spaces with public transportation routes, sidewalks and bike paths. Promote a communications strategy in local urban areas to bolster awareness and engagement with urban green space. Strengthen Outreach to Communities of Color at all relevant agencies by integrating 21st Century communications tools such as mapping devices, iphone applications, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and other tools that will increase the visibility of our parks, playgrounds and natural spaces. Federal agencies should design targeted media and marketing campaigns to reach communities of color and invest resources in developing partnerships and identifying appropriate role models within these communities. Engage Youth in the Outdoors during the School Day and in After School Activities by collaborating with the Department of Education and local school leadership to engage school children in outdoor learning opportunities and active time outdoors at school. Support the establishment of schoolyard habitats and gardens, leverage programs that connect school children to both public and private lands before, during and after the school day, and support environmental education legislation including the No Child Left Inside Act (H.R 2054 / S.866) that would provide funding for outdoor and field-based learning and train teachers to provide quality environmental education to students. Climate Change and the America s Great Outdoors Initiative The rapid pace of climate change is itself a direct threat to the long term sustainability of natural systems in the United States as we know them and their associated benefits to human communities (ecosystem services). Fragmented and otherwise degraded ecosystems are less able to withstand and adapt to new climate impacts. Current science and policy suggest that watershed or ecosystem scale approaches are essential to help make natural habitats more resilient to the impacts of climate change and to ensure that those systems are optimally storing and retaining carbon. Climate-informed conservation and restoration projects can also help foster more resilient human communities such as through the protection of water supplies and the restoration of wetlands to mitigate storm damage. Thus how a landscape project affects and is affected by climate change should be a criteria for project selection and project design. Implicit in working at a landscape scale is the need for close coordination across jurisdictions and collaboration with affected stakeholders. The challenge of climate change only underscores that imperative. Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs), focused in part on climate change, can facilitate this cross-jurisdictional engagement, operate within a broader climate context, can be utilized to evaluate AGO project selection and design, and can inform the ongoing management of project areas. Establishment of USGS Regional Climate Centers to synthesize climate change impact data, and to collaborate with the network of Landscape Conservation Cooperatives, can inform landscape level strategies for managing climate change impacts. Should adaptation funding become available through climate legislation, it can be used, in part, to support AGO projects. 15

Kahuku Ranch property, Hawai i Volcanoes National Park. Adriel Heisey Administrative Actions and Legislation to Support the Proposed Initiative While our recommendations can and should be advanced using existing authorities, landscape scale projects would work far more effectively with several key administrative and legislative changes: Fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund at $900 million per year and make it a permanent, dedicated source of conservation funding. Communities all across America have successfully used this fund and continue to find it pivotal to meeting their conservation goals. A fully funded and dedicated LWCF is the key to a successful AGO initiative. The Land and Water Conservation Fund should be altered administratively, or, if necessary, legislatively, to: 1. Develop a new competitive grants program within the state-side assistance program. 2. Further leverage state, local and private funding by enhancing the importance of such funds in project selection criteria. 3. Allow cooperative use with other federal funds to accomplish large scale projects. 4. Allocate a significant portion of the fund ($100M-200M per year) for a small number of largescale, transformative landscape projects. 5. Develop a new program of competitive grants to fund conservation easements held by qualified land trusts that advance specified conservation goals (such as federal trust resources, wildlife corridors, connectivity of federal and state conservation lands) and promote the economic sustainability of working agricultural landscapes. Allow 3rd party holders of conservation easements similar to Farm Bill programs (FRPP and GRP) in those cases where federal agencies determine the project will advance landscape goals. Establish a multi-agency catalyst fund for high priority large scale projects by pooling agency resources over three year blocks of time. Change the operation of cost share and reserve programs under the Farm Bill to encourage targeting of at least a portion of these funds to AGO projects to achieve measurable impacts at the watershed scale. Making the Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative Program (CCPI) operational will facilitate this. Some of this can be accomplished administratively, but explicit provisions should be included in the 16

2012 Farm Bill. Maintaining or increasing funding levels for Farm Bill cost-share, reserve and easement programs (including the Farm and Ranchland Protection Program) is essential. Ensure that forest land owners can participate. Grassland programs need more attention. Expand the size of the Forest Legacy Program and make grassland projects eligible for Legacy funding. Allow for technical assistance funding for third party providers under the Farm Bill. Adopt legislation that includes coordinated changes to the tax code to encourage private land conservation including (See Appendix I for more detail): 1. Make permanent the enhanced income tax deduction for donated easements. 2. Reduce or eliminate capital gains tax for transactions involving the sale of land or an easement for conservation purposes. 3. Provide an income tax credit for donation of funds used for the acquisition and stewardship of conservation easements by qualified land trusts in AGO project areas. 4. Enact changes to the Federal estate tax to encourage farmers, ranchers and other landowners to donate easements. 5. Provide an incentive to investors to fund tax-exempt bonds to be used for the specific purpose of land conservation. Adopt new Principles and Guidelines for water resources projects and whole river approach to conservation by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Create an Ocean Trust Fund to provide additional dedicated funding for research, conservation, and restoration of coastal areas, estuaries and nearshore waters. Identify and adopt funding sources to help natural systems, including fish and wildlife habitat, adapt to the impacts of climate change. Ensure the rigorous use of the mitigation protocol (avoid, minimize, offset) across Federal agencies including an ecosystem or watershed approach to mitigation decisionmaking. Streamline the continuing authority programs of the Army Corps of Engineers and create an LWCF-like aquatic restoration program in WRDA that would provide streamlined aquatic restoration grants. Adopt administrative and operational changes to allow a far greater level of inter-agency cooperation and cost-effective program delivery at the large landscape level including: 1. The ability to share and pool funding to accomplish overall objectives 2. Multi-year and landscape scale budgeting 3. Changes in land acquisition process including third party easements 4. New techniques for inter-agency cooperation including authorities for cooperative inter-agency agreements 5. Coordinated and streamlined appraisal review for federal land acquisition 17

Launching an Operational America s Great Outdoors Initiative To launch an operational initiative as described here, by January 1, 2011, the President should: Use the report of the agencies to develop and release a plan for an operational initiative. This plan should include specific five-year goals. Issue an Executive Order that designates lead agencies, sets out the framework for the pilot Landscape Partnership projects and Metropolitan Greenspace pilot projects. requires parallel process for Large Watershed Projects, and establishes a working group to create a framework for evaluating project success against the five-year goals. Within the boundaries of existing law, task OMB and CEQ to develop procedures for a new level of interagency cooperation and budgeting for AGO projects. Pool funding in the 2012 budget to provide catalyst grants for projects selected in competitive processes. Conclusion: the America s Great Outdoors Legacy Our country faces many challenges and a good deal of uncertainty as we prepare to enter the second decade of the 21st Century. Americans are struggling, as well, to find the common ground required to solve those problems. For more than 100 years, however, most Americans have agreed on the importance of conserving our country s legacy of rich and productive land, water, and coastlines. While we have made substantial progress in protecting America s environment and conserving our natural and agricultural lands, there are, today, many threats to that progress. The America s Great Outdoors listening sessions have revealed that people across America are ready to address those threats and to renew the substance and spirit of our conservation tradition. A striking new trend that has emerged from these meetings is the great interest of agencies, organizations and people working cooperatively at the regional, watershed and landscape levels to accomplish conservation at a large scale. From western Montana to the Hudson Valley of New York, diverse groups have shown the tangible progress that can be made by this partnership approach. The Nature Conservancy believes that these successes should set the direction for American conservation in the 21st Century, that the federal government acting in new, more collaborative and flexible ways can be the catalyst for lasting conservation accomplishment. In a time of soaring federal deficits, this renewed commitment to conservation will require increased funding. But much can be done by more effectively targeting existing resources and by making conservation and restoration spending more reliable, predictable and responsive to on-the-ground needs. The additional investment in things like full and dedicated funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund is extremely small in relation to other Federal expenditures and in comparison to the immense permanent benefits derived from that investment. Hoh River in the Olympic Peninsula of Washington. Bridget Besaw Cumberland Mountains in Tennessee. Byron Jorjorian Colorado River at Dead Horse Point State Park in Utah. Tom Till 18

Virginia National Wildlife Refuge. John M. Hall/TNC A hundred years ago President Theodore Roosevelt said: It is time for us now as a nation to exercise the same reasonable foresight in dealing with our great national resources that would be shown by any prudent man in conserving and wisely using the property which contains the assurance of well-being for himself and his children. As a society we often wonder about whether the things our government has done are wise or unwise, prudent or expedient, but there is little second guessing about whether it made sense for Theodore Roosevelt and his successors of both parties to conserve the natural areas, the rich soils, the productive coastal areas, and headwaters of the nation s life-giving rivers. And so, it is difficult to imagine our children, the extended family of this great nation that President Roosevelt described all those years ago, ever being anything but eternally grateful for our acting now to create a durable America s Great Outdoors Program to provide the means for the American people to work together to save the land, the rivers and streams, the ocean coasts, and great marshes that they will need for their health and happiness in the years long after we are all gone. For more information, please contact: Robert Bendick Director, U.S. Government Relations The Nature Conservancy rbendick@tnc.org 703-841-4582 19