Biden-⁠Harris Administration Launches Conservation.gov, Showcasing and Supporting the Rapid Acceleration of Locally Led Efforts to Conserve, Protect and Restore Lands and[...]

New hub will connect communities with resources and funding available through President Biden's Investing in America agenda

WASHINGTON - Today, as part of President Biden's America the Beautiful initiative, the Biden-Harris Administration launched Conservation.gov, a new website that will help connect people with information, tools, resources, and opportunities to support land and water conservation projects in communities across the country. With more than 41 million acres already conserved, President Biden is on track to conserve more lands and waters than any president in history. In addition, through the President's Investing in America agenda, the Biden-Harris Administration invested more in conservation and restoration in the first two years of the administration than in any other.

Built through an interagency partnership between the Department of the Interior, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the website is a public information hub for staying updated on conservation efforts across the country, finding places to recreate outdoors or to volunteer on public lands, and applying for financial assistance in support of conservation projects.

"From protecting Bristol Bay in Alaska and safeguarding the Grand Canyon to making historic investments in local parks and tree cover, President Biden is delivering on the most ambitious land and water conservation agenda in U.S. history," said Brenda Mallory, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality."We are proud to launch Conservation.gov to help celebrate, showcase, and support locally led conservation efforts, which are safeguarding America the Beautiful for our children and grandchildren."

"President Biden has now conserved more than 41 million acres of lands and waters across the country, leaving a huge mark on the history of American conservation," said John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy. "With the launch of Conservation.gov and its tools like the American Conservation and Stewardship Atlas, Americans can explore how they can take action to support conservation in their own communities."

Conservation.gov also houses a beta version of the new American Conservation and Stewardship Atlas. The Atlas is an innovative tool that offers users the ability to view a wide range of scientific information, data, and knowledge on biodiversity, climate change impacts, and equity, with the goal of helping inform and inspire land, water, and wildlife conservation and restoration efforts of individuals, land managers, policymakers, and communities. The beta version is informed by the more than 34,000 comments that the interagency team received when it invited public input.

The Atlas includes a preliminary framework for tracking progress towards the President's national goal of protecting, conserving, or restoring at least 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030. It also presents several preliminary updates on the status and trends of conservation efforts across the country, including that:

• Since the launch of the America the Beautiful initiative in early 2021, the U.S. has experienced one of the most rapid accelerations of conservation progress in the nation's history, with more than 41 million acres of land and water conserved in just over three years.
• The U.S. is on track to meet - but has not yet met - President Biden's goal of protecting, conserving, or restoring at least 30 percent of U.S. lands by 2030.
• Approximately one-third of U.S. marine areas are currently conserved, with 26 percent of marine areas conserved in designated Marine Protected Areas. More work remains to conserve a geographically representative, ecologically connected, and climate-resilient set of marine areas off all U.S. coasts.

"President Biden issued a national call to action to advance an inclusive and collaborative conservation vision to conserve, connect, and restore our lands and waters - and the only way we get there is together," said Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland. "Conservation.gov will serve as one tool to empower communities across the country to identify opportunities to further their vision for conservation. The Department of the Interior is proud to partner with agencies across the federal government, Tribes, private landowners, and other stakeholders as we build on the nation's best conservation traditions and ensure that we have the tools to measure and multiply these critical efforts."

"We are making bold progress to conserve our ocean, but there is work that still needs to be done - amid a changing climate - to connect and sustain marine ecosystems and human communities into the future," said Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D. "A healthy ocean, with a robust and representative network of marine conservation areas, is critical to addressing the effects of climate change and connecting all Americans to the natural wonders of our waters."

"Public and private, working lands are the backbone of many rural American communities and of the America the Beautiful initiative, which supports conservation across the country and safeguards the health and integrity of the lands and waters upon which we all depend," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "Thanks to historic funding from the Biden-Harris Administration, we are seeing generational investments in our national forests and overwhelming interest from American farmers, ranchers, and private forest landowners in voluntary conservation programs, and this new tool will help to build on that success."

In addition to showcasing conservation efforts as well as outdoor recreation and volunteer opportunities across the country, Conservation.gov serves as a gateway for learning more about the America the Beautiful initiative and provides information about how to access the unprecedented investments in conservation and restoration through President Biden's Investing in America agenda. Additionally, the website showcases federal conservation programs, organized by topic, so that users can access information to assist them in planning and pursuing their own local conservation goals.

Among the programs featured on the website is the America the Beautiful Challenge. The program, which was launched in 2022 with support from President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, is dedicated to funding landscape-scale conservation and restoration projects that implement existing conservation plans across the nation.

The website also includes a financial assistance tool that matches users with available federal financial assistance based on their eligibility and interests and directs them where to apply. Funding available includes a wide range of programs that are funded through President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which makes a significant down payment in protecting our shared natural heritage with $1.4 billion for ecosystem restoration and resilience.

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