President Obama to listen and learn about great outdoors
19/04/2010
Outdoor gear and apparel retailer REI (Recreational Equipment, Inc) has commended the Obama Administration for convening a conference on America’s great outdoors at the White House on April 16.
The retail group described the conference as the start of a national dialogue on the challenges, opportunities and innovations in land conservation and the importance of reconnecting individuals to the outdoors.
Participants included approximately 500 leaders representing a diverse spectrum of state and local government leaders, public land experts, conservationists, youth leaders, business representatives, working ranchers and farmers, sportsmen and women, tribal leaders, outdoor industry and others. REI president and chief executive, Sally Jewell, was among those invited to the event.
“Today’s ground-breaking conference was inspiring by the valuable dialogue and tremendous expertise of the many leaders who shared their wealth of knowledge on conservation approaches and efforts to help welcome people from all communities to the outdoors,” said Ms Jewell after the event. “I applaud the president, the Department of Interior, the Department of Agriculture, the Council on Environmental Quality, the Environmental Protection Agency and other partner agencies for taking a ‘listen and learn’ approach on how to remove barriers and identify solutions for enriching our public land legacy, as President Obama has so well stated.”
Ms Jewell participated as a featured speaker during a panel entitled ‘Connecting People to our Lands, Water and Wildlife’. Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, served as the moderator of the panel, which also included New Mexico governor, Bill Richardson; Gary Myers, former executive director of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency; Bill Cronon, geography and history professor at the University of Madison-Wisconsin; and Ernesto Pepito, Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy youth programme manager.
During her panel, Sally Jewell identified some significant trends affecting society and their impact on public lands such as changing demographics, urbanisation, technology and climate change. She also highlighted how outdoor participation positively contributes to the US economy.
Prior to the panel, President Obama signed a memorandum to lay the foundation of a strategy to engage the local, state and federal government, private sector and non-profit organisations and others. The initiative will include listening and learning sessions around the country where land and waters are being conserved and community parks are being established in innovative ways.
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