WASHINGTON – On Friday, March 18, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and U.S. Representative Lois Capps will tour Channel Islands National Park to highlight the conservation work underway to recover four subspecies of island foxes from the endangered species list. While there, Jewell and Capps will also distribute Every Kid in a Park passes to more than 90 fourth graders for free access to America’s public lands and waters.
Last month, Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service announced a proposal to delist three of the four subspecies of island fox native to California’s Channel Islands , representing the fastest successful recovery for any Endangered Species Act (ESA)-listed mammal in the United States.
The ESA is an essential tool for conserving the Nation’s most at-risk wildlife, as well as the land and water on which they depend for habitat. The ESA has saved more than 99 percent of the species listed from the brink of extinction and has served as the critical safety net for wildlife that Congress intended when it passed the law more than 40 years ago.
The Every Kid in a Park initiative is part of an overall strategy to connect young people to the outdoors. The program allows fourth graders to go to www.everykidinapark.gov to obtain a pass for free entry for them and their families to more than 2,000 federally managed lands and waters nationwide for an entire year.
Who:
Sally Jewell, U.S. Secretary of the Interior
Lois Capps, U.S. Representative, California
What:
Media availability with Secretary Jewell and visit to Channel Islands National Park
When:
Friday, March 18, 2016
8:30 am – 9:30 am Distribution of Every Kid in a Park passes to 4th graders and brief media availability at boat dock in Ventura
9:30 am – 5:00 pm Tour of Channel Islands National Park
Where:
Island Packers
1691 Spinnaker Drive
Ventura, CA
Media:
Due to space limitations on the boat, credentialed members of the media who wish to visit Channel Islands National Park must RSVP to Yvonne Menard, Channel Islands National Park Public Information Officer, no later than 12:00 pm on Thursday, March 17, 2016, at 805/658-5725 or yvonne_menard@nps.gov
Source: Department of Interior
