Interior Secretary Deb Haaland visited the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge recently, highlighting the Biden-Harris Administration’s "America the Beautiful" initiative to restore and protect the nation’s land, water and wildlife.
In a release from the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI), Haaland said these urban refuges give communities a space to connect with nature and wildlife while appreciating the gifts they offer.
“As we work to address inequitable access to the outdoors for communities of color and underserved communities, places like the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge serve as a model of what it looks like to create inclusive spaces that all people, regardless of their background, can access,” Haaland said during her Sept. 28 visit.
The America the Beautiful initiative, announced earlier this year, called for support of a decade-long effort to aid locally led and voluntary conservation attempts on public, private and tribal lands, a May 6 release states. This came with a report, outlining a goal to conserve 30% of the U.S. lands and water by 2030.
“The President’s challenge is a call to action to support locally led conservation and restoration efforts of all kinds and all over America, wherever communities wish to safeguard the lands and waters they know and love,” Interior Secretary Haaland, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory wrote in the report.
Submitted to the National Climate Task Force, the report outlined eight principles to guide this national initiative, including collaborative efforts and a commitment to supporting conservation attempts.
“Doing so will not only protect our lands and waters but also boost our economy and support jobs nationwide,” Haaland, Vilsack, Raimondo and Mallory added in the report.
There are nearly 570 wildlife refuges in the National Wildlife Refuge System, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Since 2014, managers of urban wildlife refuges have worked to connect urban communities to nature and the outdoors.
In San Diego, the response led to the creation of the SoCal Urban Wildlife Refuge Project, which aimed to change the way children view the outdoors, the USFWS said.
According to the release, conservation stewardship and increasing equitable access to public lands is an essential component of the Biden-Harris Administration’s America the Beautiful initiative.
