Secretary of Natural Resources - Secretary of Natural Resources



4.24.2018 Virginia Land Conservation and Greenways Conference RemarksYou will be introduced by Secretary StricklerGood morning. Thank you, Secretary. It’s great to be here with you in the Star City. I appreciate you inviting me to speak today, and I thank you for your hard work on behalf of Virginians and the beautiful landscapes that make the Commonwealth such a special place. Conservation and responsible stewardship of land is more important today than at perhaps any time in human history. A growing population, constant development pressure, invasive species, climate change, and many other factors are putting immense stress on Earth’s natural systems. Global surveys continue to show alarming losses of native forests, wetlands, and prairies. Human impacts on plants, animals, and other species have been so severe that scientists are debating whether we’re on the cusp of Earth’s sixth mass extinction. To prevent that, we must take immediate action to protect the lands and natural systems that support our existence. To borrow a phrase, we must think globally and act locally. Under my administration Virginia will be a leader in protecting the environment and the beautiful landscapes that support a vibrant economy and our way of life. The history of Virginia is interwoven with stewardship of the land, a history that has not always accounted for the true impact of our harvest of nature’s seemingly limitless bounty. James Madison was possibly the first environmentalist in the United States. He gave a speech to the Agricultural Society of Albemarle in 1818 that warned about the need to conserve forests. Madison said nature was not ‘subservient’ to man’s uses. If it was, nature’s balance would collapse.Madison tried to rally Americans to stop destroying the forest and the soil. He said for America to survive, we had to protect our environment. He looked at this in a practical way, saying nature was a fragile ecological system, and if humans wanted to live off nature, in the long term something had to change.Madison’s wise counsel remains as important to the Commonwealth today as it was 200 years ago. Finding that balance is critical to our economy and the quality of life of all Virginians. Nature and wildness are fundamental components of spiritual health and the human experience. Thanks to the efforts of conservation leaders like yourselves, visionary private landowners, and the work done with past governors and the General Assembly, we have a network of conserved lands that protect spectacular remnants of Virginia’s important landscapes. Places like the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, Shenandoah National Park, and the Virginia units of the National Wildlife Refuge System are a foundation on which to build our future conservation efforts.Healthy, functioning landscapes provide tangible, valuable benefits. Green infrastructure filters our water, cleans our air, nurtures fish and wildlife, and forms and stabilizes the soils that support our agriculture and forestry economy. This “natural capital” often is cheaper than engineered solutions.Earlier this month, I pledged to work with the General Assembly to increase overall conservation spending from 0.6 percent of the General Fund budget to two percent. As part of that effort,?my goal is?to hit the $20?million per year target for additional land conservation set by the General Assembly in 2013. ?When large infrastructure projects are proposed, the Commonwealth often receives funds to help mitigate environmental impacts. I’ll ensure that these funds are used in a targeted manner, to offset natural resource loss and enhance quality of life benefits for Virginians. One question I often hear is, “how much protected land is enough?”That’s a good question, but one we can’t answer just by numbers of acres conserved. Conserving land is a choice. We make that choice so we can protect watersheds and water quality, secure wildlife populations and habitats, provide outdoor recreation opportunities, ensure the sustainability of ag and forestry, steer development away from vulnerable areas, and preserve historical sites. But we have limited resources. So we can’t just generally support these outcomes, we need to focus on making measurable progress. The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), working with other state and federal agencies as well as partner organizations, has developed a database that can measure the conservation value of lands across the Commonwealth based on a number of metrics. As a doctor, I look at this approach as evidence-based medicine for our environment. Using science and research, we can evaluate where we should prioritize our land conservation efforts to obtain the maximum resource conservation benefits at the lowest cost. We can find the answers to conservation problems if we work together and learn from the science.In the short term, we will use this approach to achieve three goals:First, I have directed my Secretaries of Natural Resources and Agriculture and Forestry to launch an initiative to identify land with the very highest conservation value in the state – the top two percent. The goal is permanent conservation of that land. This initiative will work with state agencies, localities, nonprofit land trusts, and willing landowners. This will take additional resources, both public and private, but we need to do this.Second, I will seek administrative and legislative changes to Virginia’s land conservation tools, including guidance and criteria for Virginia Land Conservation Foundation grants and Land Preservation Tax Credits, to focus on the next eight percent of the highest tier of conservation value lands.My goal is to try and protect as much of this top 10 percent of high conservation value land as possible during my administration, with the long-term goal of achieving protection of the entire top 10 percent within the next 10 years. As we prioritize, we will put a major emphasis on lands that provide multiple conservation benefits. We’ll focus on land that can help us meet our Chesapeake Bay cleanup goals, sustain our forestry and agriculture economies, preserve and enhance forest habitat and wildlife corridors, provide resilience for those areas impacted by climate change, and grow Virginia’s outdoor economy. Third, we will review existing conserved lands and lands proposed for conservation. We’ll be looking to identify and implement restoration activities and additional protections that will enhance their conservation value. These efforts will not occur in a vacuum. I want our Virginia citizens to be able to track the progress we’re making to meet my land protection and conservation goals. Virginia’s natural resource agencies will continue to work with you and other stakeholders to create a roadmap for how we assess which lands will be part of our immediate efforts, and what areas will be targeted for achieving the broader 10-year goal. Innovative conservation efforts like this give us the opportunity to build stronger and more resilient communities that benefit from the natural systems around them. To quote Aldo Leopold’s famous essay The Land Ethic: “Conservation is a state of harmony between man and land.” I believe that harmony is achievable, and I look forward to working with you to make it a reality.Thank you. ................
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