Today marks an historic win for conservation and communities in the West and for the United States. Thanks to unprecedented conservation cooperation across the western United States, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced earlier today that the charismatic rangeland bird – the greater sage-grouse – does not need to be protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The greater sage-grouse conservation strategy comprises the largest landscape-level conservation effort in U.S. history and demonstrates that through strong Federal, state, and private collaboration, the ESA can be an effective and flexible tool in encouraging conservation and providing the certainty needed for sustainable economic development in our states and communities.

This success was only possible through close collaboration among western states, the Department of the Interior, USDA, and more than 1,100 ranchers across eleven states. The bipartisan leadership of many western governors, including Colorado Governor Hickenlooper, Wyoming Governor Mead, Nevada Governor Sandoval, and Montana Governor Bullock is a testament that when we work together, we can successfully conserve landscapes and help save species, while providing certainty to rural economies.

Roughly half of the sage grouse’s remaining habitat is found on public lands, primarily managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.  After taking into account extensive public and state input, Federal agencies also announced today the finalization of 98 resource management plans that are based on the best available science and address the primary threats to the sage-grouse and its habitat.  These plans and other actions by Federal and state agencies will also help reduce the threat of wildfire in western portions of the range. In total, these plans will put in place protections on nearly 70 million acres of important sage-grouse habitat.

These collective conservation efforts achieve more than protecting one species. The sagebrush habitat is shared with more than 350 other wildlife species, including world-class populations of mule deer, elk, pronghorn and golden eagles. They also provide sustainable development benefits that help local communities and the U.S. economy. More than 1,100 ranchers are voluntarily working with Federal and state agencies to conserve the greater sage-grouse. Since 2010, USDA has partnered with these landowners to conserve or restore 4.4 million acres of key habitat through programs that provide financial assistance for conservation, and hundreds of other properties are enrolled through similar state or Federal programs.

Today’s announcements mark an incredible milestone, proving that collaborative, science-based, forward-looking efforts can conserve an entire landscape. There’s no doubt that important work remains to ensure a bright future for the sage-grouse and the sagebrush habitat.  This includes implementing the state and Federal plans, as well as the comprehensive rangeland fire strategy. USDA has announced plans to spend another $211 million by the end of 2018 to help hundreds of ranchers conserve or restore more habitat, bringing the total to 8 million acres.  And Congress still needs to pass the Administration’s $45 million proposed increase in funds to help implement these public land management plans.  We are confident they will benefit both rural communities and the Western sagebrush landscape now and in the future. 

Today, we were lucky enough to spend a beautiful summer morning with 65 fourth-grade students from West Preparatory Academy, a Title 1 public school in East Las Vegas, Nevada. The kids were enthusiastic about being outside and going on a hike to explore the stunning desert landscape, Native American rock art and surprise pockets of lush green plants at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, only a 20-minute drive from the Las Vegas Strip.

Thanks to President Obama’s visionary Every Kid in a Park initiative, which officially launched yesterday, all fourth graders and their families will be entitled to a free pass for a full year to visit federal lands and waters that belong to all of us. Before our hike, we distributed free passes to some very excited students!

At a time when youth spend more and more of their free time inside in sedentary activities on computers and smartphones and watching TV, this program will help close the gap between children and nature by introducing kids from all backgrounds to our nation’s great outdoors.

Fourth graders across the country can visit the Every Kid in a Park website to complete a short, educational activity to obtain their free pass to more than 2,000 federal sites, including national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, marine sanctuaries and other federal lands and waters. The pass is valid for the 2015-2016 school year and grants free entry for fourth graders and three accompanying adults (or an entire car for drive-in parks). Educators can also access educational activities and print passes for their students.

And since we know a big reason why many kids don’t visit public lands and waters is that they can’t get there easily, the National Park Foundation (NPF) – the congressionally chartered foundation of the National Park Service – will award Every Kid in a Park transportation grants to participating federal agencies to help support travel for those kids with the most need.

The Every Kid in a Park initiative is designed to continue beyond just this year, so that every fourth grade child in America will have the opportunity to visit their public lands and waters for free, inspiring the next generation to be stewards of our nation’s shared natural, historical and cultural heritage.

Parks and outdoor spaces are living classrooms, and the awesome students we met today from West Preparatory Academy are well on their way to becoming lifelong learners and champions of America’s treasured landscapes.

Let’s get every kid in a park!

The creative energy of youth, the serenity of nature, and the lessons of history are a winning combination for me. All three were present in this video from the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta, where I enjoyed an opportunity to roll up my sleeves alongside volunteers, young and old, to help plant rose bushes named for Coretta Scott King in the peace garden.

This visit helped launch our 50 Cities Initiative — an ambitious effort by the Department of the Interior's bureaus to work alongside cities, public land managers, and non-profit organizations like the YMCA, the National League of Cities, and local youth conservation corps, to engage young people in nature from city parks to national parks and all points in between.

Several senior Interior colleagues and I fanned out across the country, announcing this public/private partnership in New York City, Miami, Boston, St. Louis, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Denver, and Atlanta. Also joining in this initial effort will be Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and San Francisco. In each place, we were joined by local leaders, nonprofit partners, and YMCA executives to hold community service projects and announce a generous $5 million donation from the American Express Foundation.

Much of the funding will support coordinator positions that will work with public land management agencies, schools, and other organizations that serve youth to enlist and support 1 million volunteers on public lands annually — nearly tripling the current number. The support will also facilitate opportunities for tens of millions of children to enjoy parks and programs that connect them to nature, in support of the "Every Kid in a Park" program launched by President Obama in Chicago last month.

By the end of 2015, 25 cities will have enthusiastically joined this effort, with the remaining 25 to be named in 2016. This is all part of the Department of the Interior's youth initiative to engage the next generation of outdoor stewards and inspire millions of our nation's youth to play, learn, serve, and work in the great outdoors.

These events reinforced the importance of our mission to help young people across the country have life-changing experiences in nature — experiences like those of Jane Chan, who joined us in New York, and shared stories of nature walks in Brooklyn with her grandmother collecting ginkgo nuts that had fallen from the trees. These memories made a lasting impression that led her to get more involved in outdoor programs. After volunteering with the Student Conservation Association, she was inspired to become an environmental steward and is getting her masters from Columbia University’s climate program. Experiences in nature and community service are not only fun, they change lives!

In New York City’s Battery Park outside Castle Clinton National Monument, Jane and I worked alongside American Express Foundation president President Timothy J. McClimon, YMCA of the USA President Emeritus Neil Nicoll, and Commissioner of the New York City Parks and Recreation Department Mitchell Silver, plus volunteers from American Express and staff from the Battery Conservancy, pruning bushes and native plants in time for new spring growth.

In Miami, joined by Mayor Tomás Regalado, I enjoyed meeting a group of students who were working in the Everglades on "alternative spring break" and learning from National Park rangers how to dissect an invasive lionfish (alongside some very engaged children and one cabinet secretary!).

In Atlanta, Mayor Kasim Reed joined me at Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site. As a recent grandmother, I know that we don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. Like Jane’s grandmother, I hope to inspire my grandchildren to develop lifelong connections to nature by getting them outside to play, learn, serve, and work in the great outdoors.

I also know that we can’t do this alone and I am thankful for enlightened companies like American Express, powerful nonprofit partners like the YMCA, and committed local elected officials who are all working together as stewards of the planet for children in communities across the country.

To learn more about our efforts, visit http://www.doi.gov/youth.

As Secretary of the Interior, I am fortunate to oversee American treasures like the Grand Canyon, the Statue of Liberty, and the Everglades. These are places owned by each and every American. 

They are central to our national character, and it is an honor to support their long-term stewardship for the benefit of all.

As manager of 700 million acres of public subsurface estate and our offshore outer continental shelf resources, it is also my responsibility to oversee a significant portion of American energy production, including oil and natural gas, coal, and renewable resources. Just as much as any national park, these resources belong to each and every American. Their responsible development helps drive our economy and our way of life, and it is my duty to ensure that as they are developed, it is done in a balanced and thoughtful way for the public good.

This is no small task. Last year, lands under the stewardship of the Interior Department produced over 200 million barrels of oil and close to 3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. There are currently over 100,000 wells on federally managed lands across the country, with close to 3,000 new wells drilled each year. Of wells currently being drilled, over 90 percent use hydraulic fracturing.

As it happens, I have some experience in this business. As a young petroleum engineer, I personally fracked wells in the Oklahoma oil patch. Later in my career, I managed oilfield investments for a regional bank, analyzing risk based on resource and market assessments. So I understand both the risks of development and the potential rewards, if it is done responsibly.

Unfortunately, many of the regulations on the books at the Interior Department have not kept pace with advances in technology and modern drilling methods. Many are the same ones from when I was working on drilling and fracking operations in Oklahoma over 30 years ago. Our decades-old regulations do not contemplate current techniques in which hydraulic fracturing is increasingly complex and is coupled with relatively new horizontal drilling technology in larger-scale operations that reach greater depths.

We need to put in place standards that encourage innovation, that help define the rules of the road for the industry, and that help protect communities. 

We need to modernize our regulations to make sure they can keep up with evolving technologies.

That is why today the Interior Department is releasing a final rule to update and strengthen regulations governing hydraulic fracturing on public and American Indian lands. The rule is informed by an enormous amount of public input from a transparent, four-year process. It is based on the best advice of experts and engineers as well as community, state and industry leaders.

The rule being released today includes measures to protect our nation’s groundwater -- requiring operators to:

• construct sound wells
• disclose the chemicals they use
• safely recover and handle fluids used in the process.

This rule will move our nation forward as we ensure responsible development while protecting public land resources. 

That is good for the public and good for industry. It is also good government.

As we continue to offer millions of acres of America’s public lands -- your lands -- for oil and gas development, it is critical that the public has confidence that robust safety and environmental protections are in place. Some have already labeled these baseline, proven standards as overly burdensome to industry. Others have said they do not go far enough. I think most Americans would call them common-sense.

While these standards represent an important step, they apply only to activity on public and tribal lands. The majority of oil and gas development remains on state and private lands. So, the responsibility for developing this energy safely must now be taken up in state capitals, engineering labs, and boardrooms all across the country.

If we get this right, we can continue to grow our economy while protecting our water, our air, and our communities. We owe it to our kids and grandkids to do just that.

Just now, the President took action to protect a place called Bristol Bay, Alaska. Here's why that matters:

It places a national treasure -- and one of the nation's most productive fisheries -- off limits for oil and gas leasing. Alaskans have been fighting to preserve Bristol Bay for decades. Today, we got it done.

Bristol Bay helps to produce 40 percent of America's wild-caught seafood each year. It supports $2 billion every year in commercial fishing, and supports good jobs in sport-fishing and tourism.

These waters are beautiful and valuable, and today's action will ensure that future generations will be able to enjoy their bounty.

It's a big deal. Watch the President's announcement, and take a look at these photos of the place this Administration just took definitive action to protect:

This is Bristol Bay, Alaska, a national treasure that President Obama is protecting for all of us.

A humpback whale with shearwater birds in Bristol Bay.

The beautiful Bristol Bay helps to produce 40% of America's wild-caught seafood every year.

Thanks,

Sally

Secretary Sally Jewell
Department of the Interior
@SecretaryJewell

Yesterday I had the tremendous honor of welcoming leaders invited from all 566 federally recognized tribes to the 2013 White House Tribal Nations Conference. The event included participation from President Obama, thirteen Cabinet members, and dozens of senior Administration officials.

President Barack Obama greets audience members after remarks during the 2013 Tribal Nations Conference at the Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C., Nov. 13, 2013 (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

The White House Tribal National Conference – the fifth of the Obama Administration – is an opportunity to connect tribal leaders across the country directly with President Obama and his Administration as we work together toward tribal self-determination and self-governance. In his remarks, the President said, “That’s what we’re called to do – to keep strong the covenant between us – for this and future generations.”  

For Interior, the event highlighted the work we are doing on a number of issues – including a top priority of restoring tribal homelands. Placing land into trust secures these homelands for tribes, which in turn facilitates economic development and promotes health and welfare of tribal communities.

That’s why yesterday I announced that the Administration has set an ambitious goal of placing more than 500,000 acres of land into trust by the end of the President’s term. Already, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has processed more than 1,400 individual land into trust applications since 2009, accepting more than 230,000 acres in trust on behalf of tribes, so we are well on our way to meet this new ambitious goal. That type of progress is unprecedented in modern times, and we’re committed to continuing that momentum.

Meetings continue today for members of the White House Council on Native American Affairs and other high-ranking Administration officials who are participating in listening sessions with tribal leaders on a wide range of social and economic challenges facing Indian Country.

I look forward to building on the progress we have made to promote prosperous and resilient tribal nations and to upholding President Obama’s commitment to a strong government-to-government relationship with tribal nations.

A full event webcast is archived here.

Photos from the event are available here.

I invite you to watch the remarks, which are available here.  The full text – as prepared for delivery – is also available here.

At Interior, we are working to protect the places and stories that Americans care about most – particularly during this time when our natural resources are facing unprecedented challenges from climate change and a growing population.

In yesterday’s remarks, I outlined the need for commonsense, bipartisan Congressional action to support our national parks, wildlife refuges, rivers and conservation lands.  I also issued my first Secretarial Order to establish a Department-wide mitigation strategy that will encourage balanced development and landscape-level planning.

Finally, I set some ambitious goals for this Department to engage the next generation through education, employment and volunteer opportunities on public lands.  For the health of our economy and our public lands, it’s critical that we work now to establish meaningful and deep connections between young people – from every background and every community – and the great outdoors. 

I look forward to working with the President, my colleagues in the Cabinet, Congress, and external partners such as schools, communities, tribes, non-profits and businesses to leverage our resources and turn this conservation vision into reality. 

The sun sets over Zion National Park in Utah. (Photo: Kim Hang Dessoliers)

Saturday marks the 20^th annual National Public Lands Day, the largest single-day volunteer effort for public lands in the United States. At thousands of sites across the country, Americans from all stripes will come together tomorrow to lend their time and effort to the restoration of our country’s historic places and natural treasures. 

As Secretary of the Interior, I will join hundreds of volunteers right here in Atlanta at the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site. We will be pulling weeds at the “I Have a Dream” International World Peace Rose Garden, removing invasive plants at Freedom Park, and cleaning the interior of Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was baptized, ordained and served as a co-pastor until his tragic death in 1968.

It seems appropriate that we celebrate National Public Lands Day here in Atlanta at the birthplace of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a visionary leader who inspired so many Americans to go beyond themselves for a greater good. He fought for the notion that America might finally live up to its creed that all people are created equal and have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That same spirit of service and volunteerism toward creating a better America is what motivates us yet today. I am confident that Dr. King would be pleased to see people giving of themselves at a national park established in his honor.

The renowned 19^th century social commentator, Alexis de Tocqueville, noted that one of the greatest strengths of the American people is their willingness to join in voluntary associations to further the common good. Whether it’s the Red Cross, the PTA or the local fire department, it’s true that volunteers are part of the very fabric of this nation.

It’s also true that governments at every level are dealing with increasingly constrained resources. Tight budgets and fiscal uncertainty make volunteer efforts at places like our national and local parks and wildlife refuges even more critical to ensuring that they remain healthy and accessible for all Americans. 

National Public Lands Day began in 1994 with 700 volunteers and has quickly grown. Last year, 175,000 volunteers participated, collecting 23,000 pounds of invasive plants, building and maintaining 1,500 miles of trails, planting about 100,000 trees, shrubs and other native plants, and removing 500 tons of trash from trails and other places.

Let’s set another record this year. Come out and join me and people around the country who are spending this Saturday getting their boots muddy, fingernails dirty and hearts full. You can find more information at http://www.publiclandsday.org/npld-sites and find a place to volunteer. 

You will not only participate in the great American tradition of volunteerism, but we can help kids create a connection with nature that will last a lifetime by making Saturday and every day National Public Lands Day.

There are a variety of opportunities to get involved, connect with people in your community and protect and promote our public lands and help make our communities better places for everybody to live. If you can't join a National Public Lands Day project on Saturday, you can visit http://www.volunteer.gov to search for other opportunities throughout the year.