On January 12, WildEarth Guardians joined 150 groups sending President-elect Joe Biden a Wildlife Recovery and Public Lands Restoration Economic Stimulus initiative, urging bold investments to stimulate the economy through the restoration of public lands, waters, and fish and wildlife habitat. Such investments will not only have the potential to put hundreds of thousands of people to work, but also to ensure more resilient ecosystems and communities throughout the United States.
The coalition called on the incoming Biden administration to establish and fund programs that focus on restoration rather than resource extraction and consumption, promote coordination and cooperation with local communities, and embody the principles of environmental justice. We also stressed that recovery programs should fully comply with all laws designed to safeguard the environment, workers and the public. To that end, we urged President-elect Biden to strengthen our bedrock environmental laws, including the restoration of critical protections under the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act.
“In the midst of a pandemic, a recession, dual climate and extinction crises, and a racial reckoning, we have the opportunity to build back in a deliberately equitable and regenerative fashion. After four years of destruction, division, and extraction, this blueprint could put people to work doing the vital restoration that the communities, public lands, wildlife, and waterways desperately need and deserve,” said Sarah McMillian, WildEarth Guardians’ Conservation Director.
Learn more about the work WildEarth Guardians is doing to restore and rewild lands and waters.
