Douglas Alexander: “another generation has passed. There are new challenges and new opportunities. My proposal to the conservationists last…”

“another generation has passed. There are new challenges and new opportunities. My proposal to the conservationists last night was it is now time for a third President's Commission on Americans Outdoors to follow the Rockefeller Commission in the 1960s and our commission in the 1980s. It would be an opportunity to look ahead for another generation and tell our country what we need to do to create places for us to enjoy the outdoors in appropriate ways, an opportunity to create a new conservation agenda. There is some unfinished business that is obvious. Special Federal support for conservation easements expires this year. The conservation royalty, which we enacted in the last Congress, giving one-eighth of the money we acquire from drilling in the Gulf of Mexico to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, is only a beginning to fully funding land and water conservation. We need to codify the Environmental Protection Agency's new clean air rules about sulfur and nitrogen, which are so important to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, as an example. Urban growth is still swallowing up open space. There are new challenges and opportunities that were barely on the agenda 25 years ago: Climate change, the 100th birthday of the National Park System in 2016, invasive species, and new technology which offers both promise and challenge.”