Cooperative Conservation Listening Session Sept. 19
August 22, 2006
The Secretaries of Agriculture, Interior, Commerce, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality announced the dates and locations of the next set of listening sessions on cooperative conservation and environmental partnerships. These sessions are the third group of some two dozen to be held around the country.
One of these sessions will be held in Pinedale, Wyoming, on Tuesday, September 19th. Michael Bogert, Counselor to the Secretary of the Interior, is scheduled to attend. The session will be held at 1:00 pm in the Lovatt Room of the Sublette County Library in Pinedale.
The listening sessions will give citizens an opportunity to exchange ideas on incentives, partnership programs, and regulations that can improve results and promote cooperative conservation and environmental partnerships.
The meetings are the latest in a series of discussions the Administration has hosted since the President's Conference on Cooperative Conservation in August 2005. The conference identified three broad approaches to improving conservation results: promoting cooperation within the federal government, promoting cooperation between the federal government and others, and eliminating barriers to cooperation in existing policy. Some aspects of these ideas are reflected in a recently released summary of new legislation.
The meetings will focus on issues, programs, and policies mentioned frequently at the White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation. Discussion topics will include:
• How can the federal government enhance wildlife habitat, species protection, and other conservation outcomes through regulatory and voluntary conservation programs?
• How can the federal government enhance cooperation among federal agencies and with states, tribes, and local communities in the application of environmental protection and conservation laws?
• How can the federal government work with states, tribes, and other public- and private-sector partners to improve science used in environmental protection and conservation?
• How can the federal government work cooperatively with businesses and landowners to protect the environment and promote conservation?
• How can the federal government better respect the interests of people with ownership in land, water, and other natural resources?
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