line? conservation agenda. [applause] >> good afternoon everyone and welcome to the white house conference on conservation, and a special thanks to our friends here at the department of interior for this great room and for all the work they've done to get you in the door and to get you here. many of you were here two years ago when president obama still on the stage to announce the launch of america's great outdoors initiative. he spoke in about the connection that he feels to the land and water of the united states. he said i do for the same reason that all of you do, for the same reason that families go outside for a picnic or campers spend the night in national park or way deep into a river. it is a recognition passed down from one generation to the next that few pursuits are more satisfying to the spirit and discovering the greatness of america outdoors. the summer before the president and the first family vacation in yellowstone if you track down pictures from the trip you will see their own men gathered before old faithful in the same place that teddy roosevelt stood 106 years earlier during his famous tour of the american west. two presidents and a century apart sharing the same spectacular view, that's the power of conservation. americans understand the value of helping land, water and wildlife. 75 years ago, america's sportsmen felt so strongly about the need for conservation that they asked congress to tax them to pay for it. there is a recreation activity that many of you and others participate in today this tradition lives on the american system of conservation funding and hunters and non-hunters alike a generation of american sportsmen and women thanks for the nation's abundant fish population, access to public land, clean water and health the wetlands. president obama recognizes that as all of us do from the majestic stretches of yellowstone to the trickle of a local creek we cannot take these places and these traditions for granted. they are not only a gift, the poll also our response to the. and he charged all of us from administration officials to all of you to collect the best ideas on conservation, turn to local communities to lead and make the federal government a better partner in that effort. today we can support some resounding success. from marking the most extensive expansion of land and water conservation and a generation for the public land act to enroll in hundreds of millions of acres of private land in voluntary conservation programs to help more than 2 million acres for hunting, fishing and other recreation on private land to make a credible progress for store in places like the everglades and the great lakes we have some impressive stories to tell. when we launched america's great old doors we went on the road and had the chance to interact with thousands of people through the country. what can across in those conversations was the importance of place to why people live where they live and why they do what they do for a living. we can speak of conservation as a broader goal, but the truth is conservation is local and sometimes very personal. everyone in this room is here today because of a place that is important to do with their that is an iconic place like the grand canyon or a place only your neighborhood celebrates. and visiting these places, i saw the power of the outdoors and in spite your communities sometimes in surprising places. like the sight of an old trash dump in the work new jersey that was converted into a park in the neighborhood that did not have any other safe for usable green's base. suddenly in a community that was neglected, a place that even the residents hadn't cared about became something they were intensely proud of and they took care of and transformed their neighborhood and this is true in communities across the country. what is remarkable about what we are all doing here is how its changed the discussion in washington. it gives a voice to the american communities and makes everyone's priorities everyone's priority from the very beginning to get sick, today we consider the incredible progress we've made together and we can use this gathering to share what's working to discuss what can work better and renew our energy and commitment for building on this success. there's no one better to kick off the conference than the interior secretary kenneth salazar whose chosen to celebrate his birthday today exactly like this. and what do you get for the man who has everything? well, we got him all of you. [laughter] celebrating his birthday like this surrounded by people who care about conservation as much as and maybe more than any of us does. the president knew what he was doing when he put secretary cells are in charge of our public lands and generations of americans will feel the benefit of the leadership he has shown. so please, help me welcome my friend, the secretory of the interior secretary salazar. [applause] >> thank you very much. it is an awesome day, because we are gathered here with the voices of conservation from sea to shining sea. all 50 states of the united states of america are represented here, so let's give you a round of applause. [applause] what me also say that these conferences and work on conservation have been made possible by a great team of conservation leaders to president obama has assembled here. so, today you will be hearing from and listening to a number of great partners that we have as we move forward in the 21st century conservation agenda in the united states of america. secretary tom vilsack from the department of literature, the chief of the forest service, the director of the nrc have cut a great administrator for the epa, lisa jackson, you heard from jo-ellan d'arcy from the army corps of engineers and epa one of our great partners, that the purpose of commerce and the work that they do and our interior team. our deputy secretary david hayes, john jarvis stricter of national park service, one michael connor, one, two, three. which one did i forget? i've got bob atty, and i've got mike konar so you'll be hearing from them as well. let's give the team and everybody else who worked on this conference a round of applause because it takes a lot to put together. [applause] we are on our we have some distinguished guests with us as well. we see in the very front row probably because we pay so much attention to the potomac the great mayor of washington, d.c. fincen ed gray -- fincent gray. thank you for being here. [applause] .. >> we had a great foundation from which to build. we need to make sure that we continue on the trajectory of having the united states of america being the great place that it is on conservation. over the last year there has been much debate about whether or not the best investment in conservation. there was a budget that was put on the floor of the house of representatives which would have zeroed out the conservation fund and most of the conservation programs which we also much care about. it was the voices of the people in this room they came together and said no. we will start a program here. we will gather 1100 organizations of the united states of america that will create a march and a voice for conservation. because of your efforts, the conservation budgets have been saved. give yourselves a round of applause for what you have done [applause] >> now, as we had that conversation about where we were going to go with this agenda, all of us were involved in making sure that people understood the importance of what we do in conservation. yes, it is about the conservation legacy of america and the great places like yosemite or rivers or so many objects we work on around the country. but it also is about jobs and job creation here in the united states. when you think about the 8 million jobs that are created every year through outdoor recreation to anglers, hikers, boaters come up wildlife watchers, it is a huge cornerstone of the economy area do you agree with me that it is a huge cornerstone of the american economy? [applause] >> so when we think about the agenda, which is most important to everyone in washington dc, and most importantly to the american people, it is important for us to always remind them that when we talk about conservation and historic preservation and tourism that it is about jobs that cannot be exported from the united states of america. they cannot be exported from the united states of america. i want to thank you for that [applause] >> now, we have a great foundation from which to build. we have come a long way, standing on the shoulders of the giants of conservation for many generations. we have done some good things in the last three years, but we still have a long ways to go. i am proud that in the first few months that i was secretary of interior that the president of the united states, working closely with the senate and the house, was able to put together the 2009 public landfill, which he signed in the east room of the white house with many of you present there. and we can't forget that foundation that was raised for america's great outdoors. for the first time in history, we have a national landscape conservation system which we are so proud of for the bureau of land management. besides the conservation system, we projected 1100 miles of wild scenic rivers in america. we said a wilderness was important in this country for conservation. 200 acres of conservation were included, 10 national heritage areas, and 10 national parks. so thank you, all, for making the 2009 bill possible. thank you to president obama for his leadership and for him signing that bill in the east room. this administration show that conservation and it's its administers and is important to the united states of america. [applause] >> will you then that we were just beginning? there would be some tough challenges ahead. but the president was very clear with us that the way that we are going to do conservation in the 21st century was listening to the america people. getting their best ideas from sea to shining sea from alaska to florida. making sure that the america's great outdoors initiatives that we were taking their best ideas and we would move forward with his best ideas. so yes, the president of the united states, in an announcement two years ago said that we are going to move forward with the agenda. the people in his cabinet, his conservation cabinet, while his deputy secretaries, went to all 50 states. he listened to thousands of people at community meetings. out of that came the great outdoors report, which the president directed us to implement. and we are implementing it. as director sally said, we are making progress. first, on rural landscapes. the great landscape of america. you'll hear some wonderful people that secretary bill siebel lead about some of the work that we are doing. it is truly historic in nature. when you think about the crowd of the continents and gemstone who have come together in the rocky mountain front and the collaborative process that we have with the u.s. for service and fish and wildlife service and the blm and the national park service, we will protect the crown of the continent in those rural landscapes and the crown jewel of america forever. we will get that done and we have major investments that we will be making in that program this year. it doesn't stop there with gemstone. you can give him a round of applause. it is important. [applause] >> don't stop with gemstone. i think about jim faulstich who has been a leader around the country, including the wrenching organizations in 29 states now around the country who are moving forward with an approach to conservation that says we can conserve these lands by keeping the ranchers on those lands. we can preserve a way of life for the ranching heritage of america, we can also preserve them for the conservation heritage of america. and so jim faulstich and his efforts in the dakota grasslands of america come if they have done a herculean job as we move forward in the dakota grasslands. i'm proud to announce that we will be moving forward with the migratory bird conservation commission to put significant funding into the dakota grasslands, as well as a major investment which david and my colleague secretary bill zack will make in the dakota grasslands. important thing about that is it is the duck factory of america. we will protect it to make sure that it is there forever. it is not just the united states that is doing it. it is the ranchers who are leading the effort in getting it done because the they care about their way of life. we can't forget that it is ducks unlimited is a nonprofit partner, who is putting up $50 million as a challenge to getting it done. with that kind of challenge, we are going to get it done. right, jim? >> [applause] >> rule landscapes are important, and so thank you to another part of the country where the everglades, working with the army corps of engineers in so many of our partners down there -- we have moved forward to make sure that this world heritage site is in fact a world heritage site. we are restoring the flow of water back into the everglades for the first time in history. it is a single largest ecosystem restoration project in the world. we have put a billion dollars into it, and we will succeed in restoring the river. we have a partnership also with the ranchers in the headwaters area. those renters have come together and said we can make a contribution to conservation. we are following the example of the dakotas and montana. give the people from the everglades a round of applause [applause] >> i can speak about many of these laces, but i think people would say that i am thinking too much of some of the elves. rural landscapes. you're going to hear senator conrad and others, mike on colleagues on the camera. senator will talk about what we're doing and rural america after conservation. the rules landscape is important. but the urban area is important as well. because we know today that most of the people of the united states of america live close to an urban area. more than 80%. so yes, when we talk about the great urban parks of america in the 21st contra 21st century, we are talking about places like st. louis. moving a place in st. louis that was just an art separated by highway separated by the court house, separated from the mississippi river and separated from each st. louis, to create a great park in the city of st. louis missouri, which will serve the 3 million people and connect them not only to the history of the court house, but to the history of the third largest river in america, the mississippi river. that is a example of a great park. my colleague on the cabinet, ray lahood, and because of the private partnership that was put together in st. louis, we have already put $90 million into that initiative, which will make that one of the crown jewels of a greater part of america. but inside st. louis it is about places like new york. we new york where jon jarvis and the national park service, he had about 10 part services on the waterfront. 20,000 acres that include jamaica bay. yet, in our history when enzo happening is that we operate in silence. on one side the city of new york is on the other side. because of job leadership, what we have done is we have an agreement with the city of new york that we are moving forward to restore jamaica bay. we are moving forward to restore the hudson and the bronx rivers under the leadership of lisa jackson and so many other people. in the 18 million people who live in the city of new york and surrounding areas will have one of the greatest natural icons right in the middle of america's largest city. that is something to be proud of. i am proud of america's great parks. [applause] >> now, there is one more that i want to brag about because lord davis, jon jarvis come as so many of you were involved in this. there's also there is also a great urban park with jim share of historic preservation. you think about fort monroe. many of you in the historic preservation community talked about fort monroe. it was the place where the first african american baby was born in north america. it is where the first african-american was brought to these shores as a slave. but then it also became a place during the civil war that was known as freedom fortress. that is where the slaves were escaping and seeking refuge. it was there where lincoln crystallized his thinking about the emancipation proclamation. and so yes, i am proud the president barack obama said we were going to use the antiquities act to create the 397th national park at fort monroe. that is a great accomplishment. i'm very proud of it. it is interesting when we talk about these issues. a group like this, several hundred people in the world room. i asked the democrats that were there, tea parties, republicans, lots of people who were in the room, how many of you support the president using the antiquities act to move forward with the creation of the 397th national park at fort monroe. everyone's hands went up, including those who are right winged. we are proud of what we did to fort monroe. i could talk about great urban parks, and other places around the united states of america. but let me move on to another, third pillar of america's great outdoors. the rural lanced gerdes, the parks, and the rivers of this country. we are working hard to make sure that the work of the last three decades in turning our rivers and embracing the protection for recreation and economic development for resiliency in communities is something that we make a priority across the nation. so you will hear from a group of experts, including jo-ellen darcy, about what we are doing on some of these rivers. i want to mention a few examples. we are looking at mayor vincent ward here. i still remember, mayor, when my deputy secretary david hayes said, yeah, that anacostia river, people have been looking about places one of the most polluted bodies of water forever, putting plans back and forth. we really can't get moving, but i think we can, he said. just like he does on so many other things, he said we can get it done. we can get it done if we can get everyone together. the department of interior, the department of defense, working with the city, the anacostia river is on its way back. it is going to be one of the great urban rivers of america and mayor, you're helping that happen and our partners are making it happen. but it doesn't end here in anacostia, it can go to the west, all the way to los angeles where administrator lisa jackson has been working hard to only take on a challenge that only a dream maker can take on. that is to take los angeles river, which is essentially a river that is now mostly concrete, and to restore that river to be able to provide recreational opportunities and help river ways for the people of los angeles. it is helping in the city of los angeles. it wouldn't have happened without lisa jackson. i can take you to the penobscot river in maine where 1000 miles of river restored will be celebrated this summer. i can take you across the nation to the river under the leadership of so many people here and president bush or an investing in this river, we are undertaking the largest river restoration project in the history of america. there will be 70 miles of water that has been trapped by that dam for a long time, we will now have 70 miles on that river. there are hundreds and hundreds of these projects under that he a bill of america's great outdoors. for all of you river and easiest, let's give you a round of applause. [applause] >> and for all of you who fish in those streams, all of you who represent those who hike and bike in those streams, and those rivers, all of you who believe that wild life of our nation is so integrated into the water of those rivers, for all of you, i thank you for supporting us on our rivers addenda. let me move forward because i have just a few more minutes. there is a lot more to come. we are just beginning. so yes, i am proud of what we have done because you have been there from the beginning. but we need to do more. so what are we going to do? first, we have to continue to do our work on the landscape level of conservation. we are moving forward with landscape conservation cooperatives. knocking out the united states and beyond our borders in places like the crown of the candidate and canada. how do consider the landscapes of america or the health of our environment and the help of our people. that is something which we are moving forward with, and we are doing it in large part due to the collaboration that we have. if it wasn't for cheap tidwell and harris sherman and secretary bill zack, we wouldn't have been able to do some of these things, like what we are doing with the conservation fund. we are saying, where are the big landscape level investments that we can make? yes, we have chosen the crown of the continent. yes, we have chosen the pine leaf of the southeastern united states, and we are choosing other landscapes around the country. with the right level of investment, we can make them happen. i am proud of the work that we have done their. but we have to go beyond that. there are working lands which are important to us to make sure that we are conserving. we also have to make sure that we keep them open for ranching and for all the other purposes for which those lands are used. under the leadership of director abby and the governor from colorado and governor mead from wyoming, we are moving forward with an 11 state western states grass initiative. my hope is that we will be able to conserve those states grasslands, and at the same time we will be able to allow development in those places to move forward. but so there is a lot more to go. let me and conclusions they to all of you that you are the voices for conservation. you are the voices for conservation. when you were needed, you awoke and you came and you walked the halls of congress and said don't neglect the conservation issues of the country. the fiscal storm that this country is going through, those voices of conservation are needed now more than ever. they are needed now more than ever if you believe in the work that we will be talking about here today. we need to have those 1100 organizations with jess crandall and john now. we need to have those voices continuing to be heard in the name of conservation for united states of america. the last point i would make is this. when we think about our history, it is our history which gives us so much hope and optimism for the future. it is the confidence that president obama has in his optimistic view for the united states of america as being second to none. we will be the travel blessed nation in the world, because president obama has said that we are going to do that and we will get it done. we will tackle our energy challenges in a real way because the president has said that we will get that done. because we know it is the right path. and we know that when we look at our history and the type of conservation, it hasn't been the easiest of times when people have stood up and said these places are special and they need to be protected. it was abraham lincoln in the midst of the bloodiest war that america has ever been in where 500,000 americans killed in that war it on our own soil, who said he's somebody should be protected forever. and now it is yosemite national park. in the midst of the industrial revolution when the forest were being laid bare and streams were being polluted, he said, no, we have to do something different on conservation. today, he is the greatest conservation president of our time. when john kennedy and stewart udall said yes, we will develop our resources, but we will also take a part of that revenue and we will invest it into conservation to the land and water conservation fund. even though yes, there are challenging times, we are extremely optimistic, and you will hear from the president of the united states at the end of today to talk about some of these very issues. thank you all very much for being part of this historic conference. as a part of the conservation reserve program, the new effort will also set aside land for pollinators such as be used by paying farmers not to use the land for agriculture. estimate you've got to hand it to ken salazar to invite all of us to celebrate his birthday. [laughter] in celebration of secretaries cells are's birthday, we decided we would put together an announcement we think will help encourage conservation, wildlife habitat, outdoor recreation. we have been in the last 30 days looking at our crp program and announced the general synnott early in february several weeks later we announced planned initiative about 750,000 acres, and today we announced a million acres effort that's divided as follows. 100,000 on the pollinator initiative which we think is extremely important, about to enter a thousand acres will allow us to focus on restoring additional wetlands. we have 400,000-acre initiative that will go into the safe program for highly valued species working with state and local governments, 150,000 for the accounting and bird habitat and we've going to increase the payment on crp to 150 in acre, so this opportunity we think is a tremendous chance to continue focusing on the good work crp does not only in terms of providing landowners and farmers and ranchers alternative income sources but also focuses on the environmental benefits of crp as well as the habitat. so sick to resell those are -- -- secretary salazar, happy birthday. [applause] we are very blessed and pleased to have with us a great panel today, and i've indicated to the panel before with their permission the interjections are going to be quite short so we can get to the questions and comments. let me start first and foremost with bob come exit of director of the widening wildlife natural resource trust, thanks very much for being here. sitting next to bald is brenda johnson the founder and past president of the alliance which is an extraordinary effort in the southeast part of the state of the country and next to him is jim, a farmer and rancher and vice chair of the south dakota grasslands effort. thanks for participating in this and last but certainly not least, policy director for the system will northwest forest restoration. so we have a good panel, geographic diversity, and let me start and give you all an opportunity to just talking a little bit about your own experiences with public pressure partnerships and helpless at usda, department of interior how we can do a better job of promoting the partnership and supporting you in these efforts that you are engaged in so let's start with you. >> thank you. i think that the biggest partnership that i've been involved in the last five years has been the conservation we took on in wyoming and has now moved to utah has the first meeting tuesday and the beauty is summed up by one of the representatives on the team there were 24 people from all walks of life including the federal agency, state agency, county commissioners and one of the old oil and gas representatives said you mean to tell me i have an equal voice with fish and wildlife service? and i said yes, you do, and the of equal voice as yours. the important part of what makes it work is if it is truly a team and partnership no one walks in and holds a trump card, they truly walken and find solutions that are good for everyone and we don't go to the trump the counties and the guy on the ground. everybody's got to be equally and it has to be a level. >> initiated this effort of 17 years ago sort of a lone voice for a long time with a very few resources to begin to build the partnerships with ten private organizations as they gathered steam and it's been very successful but it was three years ago, secretary, that you and your counterparts of defense find pledging support for this restoration but the agencies have been supportive previously and gave us as well as the land owners that we work with but not industrial landowners and the certainty of the government is truly interested in the they were trying to do and what before the long term. one of the of comes of that is a regional group on the council that is private, state and federal partners with an equal voice in the council that isn't a decision making council but the council to facilitate communication and coordination to eliminate the effort or the gaps that are inevitably occurred and one other thing is i would say we work closely within our csb and in alabama we form a technical assistance team made up of federal and state and private organizations who are geographically located strategically through the state from any landowner to ask for help through our organization and refer them. it's worked very well and one other very focused effort is the example we inherited and probably the best working large-scale wind scale effort in the southeast or the gulf coast is the ecosystem partnership just north of a million acres land owned by several which is total or state, and that partnership was the brainchild of that and it has gone that extra step. they've worked across boundaries to work together and they've gone that extra step now and actually have a team, management team available that can help with things like the control, endangered species monitoring. that has been a boon to those federal and state partners and the crew available to augment their own and it's been really successful and we hope to transfer that model to other landscapes. >> thank you. i would like to address this question and number one on the south dakota level and the ever midwest of course we've had partnerships for a number of years and it's been a gratifying to see different organizations and agencies pulling in the same direction. but what i'm really excited about since that hasn't always been the easiest thing to accomplish is the fact what we are seeing on the national level and might have you folks from the agencies and the department for all headed the same way and we need to work on this together and that is the greatest partnership i've seen for a long time. so my hat off to you. i want to comment more from the national level this morning 63 salazar has open and kind comments i might add commented on groups agenda and movement on a nationwide basis he used the figure of 29 states involved all private land owners from across the u.s. that have the common goal of improving the landscape and working landscape through conservation. and one of our tag lines is in improving the landscape through communication. and i think that is one of the key things. this is a network of private landowners or partners for conservation, and we look forward to ending up with hopefully all 50 states on board last year and we've had states from hawaii to the d.c. area and we want to fill in the slots in between city is the partnership hopefully you can use as agencies and we can communicate and provide information and input. >> i'm very happy to be here. i guess the first thing i want to say is that everything that we do is based on the fact that we believe the community's help and the health of the environment are inextricably linked and since our founding 17 years ago also worked as we've done has been done through collaboration. so, i'm going to take for this, and just one of those projects that's called the jul force and stretches 12 counties in eastern oregon, and we have been working this was from a challenge grant from the u.s. endowment, five-year project and we are trying to promote the community capacity for the collaboration and stewardship. we are working to accelerate the landscape restoration, and resulting from that, creating the market for the community energy facility. so that we have a fully integrated regional approach. and what has been really amazing about this is the foreign service has always been our strong partner. the work with a subdistrict level, the regional office and the washington office. on this project, we were able to get the support of the rural development to come in and also work with us on this. so in addition to all the diverse state cultures that are working in all of these counties all of these individual projects all the way up the scale you've now been able to also bring in that economic time mentioned which is about investing in the conservation to create the economy is based on taking care of the land making products that sustain that kind of stewardship so i would say the things that make this kind of collaboration work are the commitment to an open and transparent process, good monitoring said that you are all learning and that you have the ability to adapt, and then putting having a good change mechanism which i think is the hardest part knowing when you learn something how do we change it for the next one and the mutual accountability. when we do work together it's not just the fact of the state or county commissioner or the community or the environmental community. we are all accountable for with the ultimate results are and so i think when people take that on that is when it is suspected. >> i listened very closely to all of your answers and i try to pick out one word from each of your answers that was pretty critical. you mentioned a trust, and i would be interested in the panel views on how do you create trust? if you think about folks who historically have been opposed to one another or historically have had different views about how the areas should be used for natural resources should be used what is the advice of the panel for the government to help build that trust, and for that matter, how do we in government build the trust that needs to be to break us sometimes folks have a little suspicion about what the government's role should be. let's talk about trust for a second. who wants to weigh in on the trust factor? >> i will jump in. you know, i do have a good friend that said to me you don't need to trust people to work with them you just have to have featured objective but i don't know if that is actually true. but i keep it in the back of my head. i think what build trust is transparency about what's working and what's not working, and the most effective thing that our federal partners do is tell us when they are against the wall and they are having trouble when they are stuck because we can then as their partners work to solve that problem also. and so, and i think it is hard sometimes for federal partners too chollet at at mant when something doesn't have a clear attack in front of them and so i think that is one element of building trust is being willing to be a little vulnerable. that is what is going on. i think following through on your word, you know, if you do make agreements and to codify them, it's really important that that then becomes per your highest. you can't guarantee things, but you can demonstrate that you are prioritizing those agreements that you've made. so i will take this chance to just say that the collaborative restoration program has been a demonstration of follow-through on all levels. in court again we have three projects in the region and i just think the demonstrated commitment to supporting those people that went through that, that builds so much trust. actions and words go together. >> in the process we undertook and the answer to how do you build trust is the drink a lot of beer and eat a lot of stick together. [laughter] but we didn't have time for that. we get six months thrown out to get this done. i think what she said is right about transparency. but i also think the hardest part of for people to do is to get out of the side they come in on assuming they are there to defend coming and i found this stew's the neutral we spent two hours giving people locally to realize i don't have to defend the wheel and gas industry. we don't have to defend conservation if you have a strong compelling goal you are moving towards. larry symbol and william and we want to take care of the bird and its habitat and a war economy so that enables people not to slow themselves but look at an outcome that's important to all of us and to be honest with each other so when it but moving too far no one was hesitant to say bringing back. the fed played a great role in that if they will take that deep breath, sit up and be part of the process and that's different than the history particularly in the public land states they felt an obligation to run of the process instead of just participating and they did an awesome job in william >> one of the things we've done in the project is one of the a great american outdoor landscaping and another case as well the tickets back to the commission commons and also demonstration, linscott successful collaboration, cooperation and stuff that takes the fear of other people joining and the demonstration of other successes, and i know we started with of the tour's command when you can see those stories on the ground, it has to wait. >> the landscape that we worked in, historical range is about 90% privately-owned so different from a landscapes' the other panelists worked and in that and it required a different approach what we were intent on being honest brokers and our message is consistently then this is the ecosystem restoration as an option. we think it is a good one if you choose it we will help to be successful rather than making fun of -- i'm sure they don't differ much across the nation. they almost always resist being told what they should do with their land and i would be surprised if you found that. but that's the approach we took so this is a good thing to help you be successful if you choose it. >> one of the words i picked up from your comments earlier is the issue of certainty and i would like to talk for a few minutes about the importance of that. i think that is also in the example another opportunity. talk to us a little bit about how important it is in terms of building trust and having that accountability that wants an investment is made that those landowners have some degree of assurance that things are not going to change. >> an example but this strongly centered is the safe harbor program which is from the isasi get, and that program protection of the species never got started until the no surprises rule that gave them certainty that if they continue to manage the kind of ecosystem they wanted, it wouldn't be punitive if the result was more restrictions and we are working right now on a similar program with the eastern population that has been proposed for listing in its pending right now just to the landowners that have tortoises on the property and we are working on an innovative banking system to prevent interior, fish and wildlife and the department of defense as their activities may further on their habitats even though they are not yet listed in the act. looking for a way for them to relieve themselves of that responsibility prior year to a listing from a private land owner, so in a perfect world would result in good conservation and go and that is sort of the community and financial return for the reward for doing goods, and right now the choking point is that lack of certainty for instance the military installation, the reluctance to buy the commodity that may not have value for the service on either hand as a regulatory agency is reluctant to guarantee but we are working through that issue and i think it's critical if we are not able to resolve that. >> i would add with certainty the other is consistent, and i think the two go hand-in-hand. if the certainty is to mauro everything changes the day after it changes that that's something that will show any kind of member, but if we can create some consistency and obviously we have a great challenge right now trying to take this to ten western states and there's the consistency that isn't necessarily that the guideline is the approach to conservation to be exactly the same in utah as it is in washington state but that the approach be the same so everybody can see how it was done and what those differences are so then some certainty once you do take an action that it isn't going to change immediately. so we built a five-year time period at the end of five years we will look and see how we have done. we are obviously monitoring the schricker skill but people don't feel like they have to change almost on a monthly basis to catch up with the latest that they've heard. estimate how does this apply in the grasslands and forested areas? >> of the uncertainty in my mind relates to knowing as i mentioned before the government agencies, private landowners are all heading the same way, and they listen to some of the breakout session comments year earlier this morning a lot of times dealing with symptoms instead of the problems come and certainty in my mind is that in reality we really can keep this headed in the direction of america's great outdoors, and i think it's important and especially a number of folks in the audience with urban background that we take a holistically of their approach we use. i don't think anybody in here wants to be the first to get hungry and we need to remember that policy as we move forward. but life proven on our own ranch that you can be sustainable from the standpoint of not only food production, water quality, quantity, just a number of things, economics, recreation, they are all important. with a common holistic picture of a it is ending at the end point of where we want to be. estimate on the public land the thing that jumps to mind for me is having the consistent program of work, and they include that ecosystems, whatever it is, wildlife habitat improvement, and so i think knowing that there's a consistent program allows the businesses that work with those agencies to get the right crews in place to make sure they have the right equipment and we have lost a lot of our infrastructure, so we're it is interesting threshold of how are we going to create a restoration economy? what are the skills, what is the equipment, what are the new facilities we are going to need to invest in? so i think programs like the restoration program to help with that because they are creating a program of work that has consistency, not a guarantee, but people have a to predict what is going to happen from one year to the next. and we've done something called the voices for conservation coalition from that work of the organizations across the left, and i can say that from the people that are working on carbon across the board this issue of the relationship with the program of work sums up in every conversation. so i do see it as something for congress making consistent investments so that we can do this. it's very different when -- >> he may be asking too much there. [laughter] let's talk about the fact if you have trust and you've got some consistencies and certainties one of the principal opportunities is how we communicate. and i'm interested in knowing from your perspective what is the organizational structure of the communication, how do you actually get the word out, how do you make sure that people who are in the partnership or in the arrangement are getting the same information at the same time so that you don't create an opportunity for mistrust? you mentioned the word communication. let me start with you. how do you do it there in south dakota and the grassland? >> one of the things, and i already mentioned the importance of the demonstration, and we found that to be low-key. but there's always misinformation out there. there's always one force working against another, and it's important to take that to all levels. some of the projects that we've done in the state level has opened doors as far as the state government, national the front and the cooperation has been tremendous and i just can't emphasize enough the value in demonstrating. >> how do you court made that message? helpless here. we have the capacity obviously in the department of interior, environmental quality to get the epa week of communication process these but tell us how we might be able to do slightly better job of that. >> i think one of the things that helps is to invest in community capacity. the backbone of most of these efforts comes from a small community-based organization, and they have a network that connects to a lot of other people that then connect to a lot of other people come so it is sustainable we provide things like the voices for the coalition in the works really well but i also think that it's getting out on the ground. it does get to the localized communication because sending information out doesn't create the dialogue that makes people really understand what the conversation is. so i think being able i guess you can say to vertically integrate your communications strategy i think is one of the best ways to reinforce and really get that systemic change. estimate how do you vertically integrate the strategy across the state lines? when you talk of the lines you are talking about a number of different states. >> we work in nine different states. our biggest barrier as we began in this effort audience was professionals and wildlife biologists and private sectors as well as the public sector sort of abandoned as the meaningful choice for the landowners, and we decided because we are a very small organization for us to meet with individual landowners was not defective. we still do it, but the biggest return for our investment came working with the foresters and landowners and so we began to teach what he called this very intensive weeklong field classroom oriented academy. .. landowner to landowner. how do you make sure the message is communicated consistently? >> it's a very different framework because you are dealing with the backdrop of a precluded species and you have habitat issues and all those other things. looking at how do you keep the group working, i think that one of the things we insisted on was if you are going to get on e-mail and send it to everybody than then reply to everybody so there are dirty different e-mail chains going and people adhere to that and they were honorable about that. consequently, you didn't have that mistrust prop -- cropping up. the other thing and i say this because i know how busy people are but there is so much value in face-to-face meetings and so little value in trying to do it by teleconference. you have some people who can't hear on the phone and the way that we accomplish that, to be perfectly honest, we set ourselves a very very aggressive timeline and said we are going to get it done and it's forced us to meet on a regular basis, and that ilk that trust up and people never had a chance to forget what they did or fall apart from the table. >> the last -- you mentioned this on a couple of occasions and i think of capacity, i think many different aspects of it but one aspect is the technical assistance, the really very technical scientific information. talk to me a little bit about what government could do better in terms of technical assistance and helping to build capacity. we will talk about that. >> i can comment on that. i use a number of different agencies and programs within agencies and there is tremendous value in those and again, as you folks work together with consistency and not overlap and looking forward to those programs being more beneficial, but as a landowner and especially in the heartland where i live, it's important that we have a different program. we need programs that are short-term. we need programs that are long-term fixes and in our particular situation, we were able to bring the next generation into the land because of easements and in this case badlands easements that we required through the u.s. fish and wildlife and whether it's eclipse or whatever, there are a number of programs, the
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