Metro's conservation efforts align with Obama administration's strategy
At the White House on Friday, Metro Council President David Bragdon watched as President Obama launched the America's Great Outdoors Initiative. The initiative will bring communities together to develop a strategy for protecting and preserving valuable lands, open spaces and natural resources.
Bragdon was one of 500 invited guests to attend the White House Conference on America's Great Outdoors. During Bragdon's leadership, Metro has moved to preserve and restore thousands of acres of forests, rare woodlands, stream corridors, wetlands and prairies. He also played an integral role in the agency's efforts to join forces in establishing a connected network of parks, trails and natural areas in the Portland-Vancouver area called "The Intertwine."
During his opening remarks, President Obama mentioned strides his administration has made on a national level to protect large tracts of public lands including some in Oregon.
"Last year, I signed into law a public lands bill -- the most significant in decades -- that designated two million acres of wilderness, over 1,000 miles of wild and scenic rivers, and three national parks. We better protected cherished places like Oregon's Mount Hood. We're taking a new approach to our National Forests to make sure they're not just providing timber for lumber companies, but water and jobs for rural communities. We are restoring our rivers and coasts, from the Chesapeake Bay to the Gulf Coast, from the Great Lakes to the Everglades."
The President also touched on the new environmental challenges the nation faces such as population growth and climate change which place a growing strain on healthy air, water, land and wildlife. He said that the nation needs to develop a new strategy on conservation and called for the writing of a "new chapter" in protecting valuable land, rivers, wildlife habitats and historic sites.
To do that, he said, the environmental discussion needs to take place outside of Washington, D.C. The America's Great Outdoors initiative directs members of the administration to host regional "listening sessions" across the United States, beginning in the next few months. The first meetings will be in Los Angeles and Florida.
"We'll meet with everybody -- from tribal leaders to farmers, from young people to business people, from elected officials to recreation and conservation groups," Obama said. "And their ideas will help us form a 21st century strategy for America's great outdoors to better protect our natural landscape and our history for generations to come."
The President said that strategy will include building on current conservation efforts spearheaded by local governments, tribes and private groups as well as actions to preserve ranches and valuable farmland.
In February, the Metro Council and Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington county commissions approved rural reserve agreements to protect more than 272,100 acres of farmland, forestland and natural areas from growth. Metro also has protected more than 10,000 acres of natural areas in the region through bond measures approved by voters in 1995 and 2006.
The Great Outdoors initiative will be run by the Environmental Protection Agency, the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the Department of Interior and the Department of Agriculture.