WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Biden administration’s Conserving and Restoring America the Beautiful plan is an historic initiative to bring Americans together to conserve and restore 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters over the next decade through collaborative partnerships and locally-driven conservation solutions on public lands, private lands, Tribal lands, and urban communities. It will put millions of Americans to work restoring our forests, grasslands, wetlands, and waterways, when combined with the restoration and resilience investments proposed in the American Jobs Plan, and will help the U.S. achieve the 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 proposed in its Nationally Determined Contribution in the Paris climate agreement.

“What better way to put millions of Americans to work than by investing in the collaborative restoration of America’s forests, wetlands, grasslands, shrublands, waterways, urban parks, and coasts from sea to shining sea? President Biden’s historic and inspiring Conserving and Restoring America the Beautiful plan rightly focuses on collaboration and restoration to conserve our nation’s unparalleled natural resources, rather than regulation and designations. It’s a visionary blueprint for how we can work together to recover the one-third of wildlife species at heightened risk of extinction, revitalize rural and urban communities, strengthen the outdoor economy, and bolster resilience to escalating climate-fueled megafires, floods, and hurricanes,” said Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. “Combined with significant investment in natural infrastructure restoration proposed in the American Jobs Plan, the America the Beautiful plan will accelerate collaborative conservation in every corner of the country by empowering local communities, Tribes, farmers, ranchers, forest stewards, and conservation partners to come together to conserve and restore our natural resources and ensure that all Americans have equitable access to nature.”