Keeping it local when it comes to management of natural resources

This past April, President Barack Obama launched the America's Great Outdoors conservation initiative in an effort to confront the serious challenges our natural resources face today. This initiative recognizes that while we've made significant progress in protecting natural resources in America, we still face significant challenges. Our public and private working lands face threats from fragmentation and development. I'm particularly concerned about the loss of prime agricultural and forests lands that provide a wealth of benefits to Americans including clean water, wildlife habitat, food and fiber, and others. Through America's Great Outdoors, the President has tasked us with developing conservation agenda worthy of the 21st century and to reconnect Americans with our great outdoors. In an attempt to address these issues, Obama has instructed the U.S. Department of Agriculture and our federal partners to host a series of listening sessions to learn about what's working and what's not in land conservation, in getting Americans outside, and to learn how the federal government can be a better partner in these efforts...more

Be sure to utilize the handy B.S. detector if you chose to read more of Secretary Vilsack's column.