ST. LOUIS – The National Wildlife Federation called for climate-smart infrastructure investments that will set the United States on a path to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. The resolution was one of eight the National Wildlife Federation’s affiliates approved at the recently concluded 83rd Annual Meeting.

The Federation’s Board of Directors also voted to welcome the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council as its newest and 52nd affiliate.

The National Wildlife Federation is America's largest and most trusted conservation organization. Its 52 affiliates lead critical wildlife conservation efforts in their states and territories and pass policy resolutions each year that guide the National Wildlife Federation’s work.

Resolutions Approved

The resolution to advance climate-smart infrastructure investments reaffirms the Federation’s commitment to advance climate solutions for communities, jobs and wildlife that enable people and species to thrive. In the face of the global climate crisis, infrastructure policy is a near-term opportunity for bipartisan collaboration on investments in the low-carbon technologies and natural infrastructure that can provide a substantial down-payment on our climate goals.

Affiliates also approved resolutions:

• Protecting habitat, wildlife and water resources around the Grand Canyon from uranium mining, specifically resolving to permanently protect 1 million acres around Grand Canyon National Park.
• To significantly reduce single-use plastic products in the American marketplace, building upon a 2018 resolution, promoting action at local and state levels, and supporting a national 90 percent reduction by 2025 for which alternatives are readily available and affordable.
• To urge the Environmental Protection Agency and state departments of Agriculture to suspend authorizations for dangerous volatile herbicides Dicamba and 2-4 D, to protect wildlife habitat that is already under the intense pressures.
• Supporting tribes on wildlife and natural resource management, recognizing tribe’s sovereign authority to manage fish and wildlife resources on lands within their jurisdiction and adequately investing federal conservation funding to advance the federal interest in the wildlife species for which tribes are responsible.
• To protect habitat by balancing conservation and outdoor recreation on public lands, including calling on Congress to invest in restoring recreational sites that degrade wildlife habitat, relocating important recreational assets in unsustainable locations, and ensuring for adequate education, enforcement, and maintenance planning and implementation so that important wildlife habitats remain intact.
• Supporting strategic and ecologically appropriate prescribed burn programs on our natural areas whenever appropriate for wildlands management, because they prevent wildfires, save lives and resources, and provide immense benefits to the environment, wildlife and outdoor recreation.
• Calling on governors and state lawmakers to fulfill their wildlife trust obligations through adequate investments and science-based guidance to all agencies of state government — including agricultural and transportation departments — so that they promote, and do not frustrate, fulfillment of the state’s obligations.

Southeast Alaska Conservation Council Joins National Wildlife Federation

The Southeast Alaska Conservation Council joined the National Wildlife Federation today as the organization’s Alaska affiliate, following a unanimous vote of the Federation’s Board of Directors. The Juneau-based conservation organization, founded in 1970 and dedicated to protecting Alaska’s wildlife and natural resources, is the National Wildlife Federation’s 52nd state and territorial affiliate.

The Southeast Alaska Conservation Council is the leading voice for environmental conservation in Southeast Alaska, using creative grassroots organizing, water quality science, tenacious policy advocacy and legal action to protect the Last Frontier’s rainforests and pristine waters, including the region’s critical wild salmon runs and wildlife habitat.

Conservation Achievement Awards

The National Wildlife Federation Conservation Achievement Awards began in 1966. Since then, the National Wildlife Federation has celebrated individuals and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to protecting wildlife through education, advocacy, communication and on-the-ground conservation.

This year’s awardees were:

• Affiliate of the Year: Arizona Wildlife Federation
• Affiliate Volunteer of the Year: Mike McKernan, South Dakota Wildlife Federation
• Conservation Achievement Award: Clark Bullard, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Prairie Rivers Network (IL) and former National Wildlife Federation Board of Directors Member
• Conservation Leadership: Dan and Connie Burkhardt, Katy Land Trust and Magnificent Missouri
• Charlie Shaw Conservation Partnership, Affiliate: Bob Rees, Association of Northwest Steelheaders (OR)
• Charlie Shaw Conservation Partnership, National Wildlife Federation Staff: Lisa Moore, editorial director of National Wildlife magazine

National Wildlife Federation Board of Directors

Bill Houston took over as Board of Directors Chair from Kathleen Hadley, and affiliates elected:

• Eastern Vice Chair, Board of Directors: John Robbins
• Board of Directors, Region 2: Seth Ross
• Board of Directors, Region 3: Carol Buie-Jackson
• Board of Directors, Region 5: Greer Tidwell
• Board of Directors, Region 10: Scott Gilmore
• Board of Directors, Region 12: Rachel Sprague