Get Involved: Public Listening Sessions on America’s Great Outdoors Initiative
This is an exciting summer for those who want to make their voices heard about President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors Initiative. The America’s Great Outdoors Initiative was signed at a White House Conference on April 16. You can read the remarks and see video of President Obama, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and others.
At the April conference, President Obama noted:
“When we see America’s land, we understand what an incredible bounty that we have been given, and it’s our obligation to make sure that the next generation enjoys that same bounty.
In the months ahead, members of this administration will host regional listing sessions across America. We’ll meet with everybody from tribal leaders to farmers, from young people to business people, from elected officials to recreation and conservation groups. Their ideas will help us form a 21st century strategy for America’s Great Outdoors to better protect our national landscape and our history for generations to come.”
Listening sessions have occurred in Annapolis, MD; Charleston, SC; Seattle, and Los Angeles. Upcoming sessions are scheduled for Grand Island, NE; Asheville, NC; Grand Junction and Denver, CO; Albuquerque, NM; and Philadelphia, PA. More are being added all the time.
In addition, the newly formed coalition, Outdoors Alliance for Kids, which includes the Children & Nature Network, has made its own set of recommendations regarding the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative. Recommendations include increasing the number of safe and accessible green spaces, better outreach to youth and people of color, funding of important studies on children and nature, supporting passage of the “Moving Outdoors in Nature” section of the Healthy CHOICES act that’s currently in the U.S. House of Representatives, and much more.
See how you can get involved in a public listening session near you and help shape the national agenda about America’s Great Outdoors.
I will offer our college facilities in Charlotte, NC for a session if you would like to consider having one here. We can also help with the marketing and volunteers for the event. We are the largest Community College in the two Carolinas.
College website: http://www.cpcc.edu
Best Regards,
Ernie
Hi Ernie. Thank you for your wonderful offer. I will pass this on to others in the group who may not have seen it. (There is a downloadable toolkit on the America’s Great Outdoors site, which should help in arranging a session. Have you taken a look at it?)
Lots of outdoors enthusiasts in San Diego. I will download the toolkit as well and see if I can look into finding some facilities should you all consider this beautiful city.
Coming soon to a school near you?
First, President Obama and the public need to know some facts about who is behind this campaign. Sporstmen are very excited about this project as it will open doors to promote more youth hunting, buy more hunting lands, and get more of the Pittman-Robertson gun tax $ for their state.
To qualify for (100%) of our gun tax fund ($300+ million annually) state wildlife agencies must sell the most hunting licenses. At any cost they will recruit hunters to their state, and do so by artificially increasing large populations of game animals by manipulating hunt seasons. The over population of deer is NO accident, and people die as a result.
Increasing their funds enables them to buy more lands, which if you are not of the 4% that hunt, you will only enjoy in off seasons, but many animals can be hunted all year long now.
The antiquated P-R Act implemented by Roosevelt needs repealed, NOT endorsed! 60% of gun owners now do NOT hunt. So WHY do state wildlife agencies get 100% of this tax (and keep lying to you they fund themselves!)
Because of special interest monopolization of wildlife management, Sportsmen are “selling” our wildlife and allowing exploitation of it. Abusive “sports” are growing, sanctioned by themselves and even over-stepping state anti-cruelty statutes. ex: Dog fighting is illegal, but THEY allow live bait dog training, using our wildlife just for the fun of it.
New “snuff” hunting videos portray killers with guns wounding animals and laughing over their suffering. 54% of bow-hunters lose animals they hit with arrows. The stats are staggering on what now goes on in the name of “hunting”.
The solution isn’t about anti-hunting – there is a scary lack of ethics that now engulf the “heritage” they cry must be upheld. And THEY are fully in charge of this reckless management.
Please tell Obama to REPEAL THE P-R GUN TAX, give some of the $ to crime victims, and STOP STATE WILDLIFE MGMT FROM QUALIFYING FOR IT BY “GROWING HUNTERS”!
Demand states qualify instead via how many wildlife appreciation programs they implement, how many sanctuaries they permit, how many wildlife rehabilitators they recruited, How many humane population controls they implemented (vs ignored), how much truly public input they utilized… (instead of flat ignoring a 60% vote NOT to have a cull or bear hunt in their communities)
Hunting has caused a 300% trait change in species. It is NOT being done properly because they are in charge, their salaries depend on it – and they need YOUR kids to get a gun and “get out there”.
Let’s require our children help care for orphaned wild animals at a rehabilitation center. Then if they want to hunt? At least they will have some respect for their prey, as true hunters should. Our society is fueling a self-serving a lack of compassion.
Katherine McGill – Urban Wildlife Examiner