ATB4ALL BLOG

By America the Beautiful for All

Posted: Wednesday, October 16, 2024, by Comms Team

The membership of the America the Beautiful for All coalition stretches from the Marianas to Maine, Alaska to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. We are the largest, most diverse coalition of its kind to ever exist in the United States.

Last week, 170+ conservation, climate change, and community leaders from across the United States spent three busy days in San Juan, Puerto Rico at our coalition’s New Era, New Leaders conference.

This conference was not your usual conservation conference. I moderated a panel called, “Tools to facilitate values-first conservation when power dynamics make it hard” and we talked about some of the things that make it difficult for people of color to get into and stay in the conservation movement. We shared stories and strategies on how to build community and to organize to uplift our ideas and power.

Our coalition is growing, and you are invited to be a part of it. It can be intimidating for newcomers to figure out the best way to plug in, so here are a 6 ideas for new coalition members, or potential new members, to get involved with our coalition in support of creating a more just and equitable conservation movement:

1. Join the Coalition email list.  The simplest way to participate in our coalition, and the one that requires the least effort, is to navigate to the America the Beautiful for All coalition website, scroll to the bottom, type your email address, and click subscribe.  We send out a monthly newsletter with links to actions you can take in support of our coalition partners’ efforts, conservation news and updates, as well as upcoming events.
2. Join and Share Our Social Media. The America the Beautiful for All Coalition is on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (also known as X) and LinkedIn.  Please follow our accounts and share our posts when you see them.  We also have 250+ partner organizations and we encourage you to follow and share them, too!
3. Join a workgroup.  Our coalition has six issue-based workgroups (Urban Parks & Greenspace, Ocean, Wildlife, Public Lands, Freshwater, and Legacy Lands) and one cross-cutting workgroup called Priorities, Projects, & Campaigns.  Each of the workgroups has two co-leads who coordinate our coalition partners’ activities.  The management of each is somewhat decentralized from the full coalition, and the best way  to learn about each issue is to reach out to the co-leads (click on their bios on the website) to request more information.  The different workgroups use different tools to communicate with one another, including google groups, Whatsapp, email, and regular meetings.  Each co-lead can recommend the best way for you or your organization to participate.
4. Endorse our policy agenda.  As I write this, we are about 4 weeks away from Election Day in the United States and regardless of the outcome, there will be a new president on January 20, 2025.  In 2023 and in 2024 our coalition put forward policy agendas to outline our conservation priorities for the Biden administration.  We plan to do the same for the next president.  During our conference in Puerto Rico last week, all of the participants had the opportunity to share those ideas and we will be collecting them and sharing them regardless of the election outcome.  If you join our coalition email list, in the coming weeks and months we will share how your organization can help set the tone for the next administration’s conservation efforts.
5. Come to Our Events. The New Era, New Leaders conference was the culmination of two years of organizing and relationship building across our movement.  Along the way we held two Washington, DC fly-ins, where advocates from across the country walked through the halls of power to call on the Biden administration and US Congress to take just and equitable actions to protect nature and people.  During the fly-ins, our coalition partners helped tell these stories, which include Tina Sablan from the Northern Mariana Islands successfully advocating for a Mariana Trench monument management plan and Tess Hostetter calling for the protection of Alaska’s D-1 lands.  Throughout the course of the year we also held smaller events across the country to organize, advocate, and learn from one another.
6. Donate to support our coalition partners. We have over 250 coalition members working across many facets of conservation in our country.  We encourage you to support them and their participation in our coalition. You can also support the management and coordination of the coalition by reaching out to our development team.  For example, you can support travel for our members to advocate for their issues in Washington, DC, or to send them to training and capacity building workshops.

The direction our coalition takes in the next few years will be determined in the next few weeks.  It’s not yet clear if we will spend the next four years fighting off all the terrible ideas found in Project 2025 or if we will be looking to build on the conservation success of the Biden administration.  Regardless of the outcome, our coalition is committed to growing a conservation movement that reflects the diversity and experiences of America, and we invite you to be a part of that.

Monument joins Blackwell School, Avi Kwa Ame and Castner Range designations made by Biden-Harris administration, hopefully with more to come

By America the Beautiful for All

Posted: Friday, August 16 2024, by Comms Team

Following the Blackwell School National Historic Site in Texas becoming the nation’s 430th national park in July, the Biden-Harris administration is going a step further towards a public land system that reflects all Americans. On August 16, 2024, President Biden established the 1908 Springfield Race Riot National Monument after several years of pressure from community leaders urging him to conserve the historic site under the authority of the Antiquities Act. This new monument would for the first time acknowledge this dark chapter in U.S. history on public lands, honor the legacy of civic rights leader Ida B. Wells and the formation of the NAACP,  and allow the nation to learn from this history. The move has been supported by a bipartisan group of members of Congress and drew accolades from a broad coalition of groups urging the president to make the move, ranging from Black Lives Matter, to the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, to Sierra Club, to the Lincoln Presidential Foundation among others.  

The designation permanently memorializes the site of the August 14, 1908, attack by a white mob who lynched Black residents of Springfield, Illinois, while setting fire to their homes and businesses. The aggression was so heinous, it would become the impetus for the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the leading national voice for equity and justice for Black people and other people of color for more than a century.

“We must remember, resolve and restore. The 1908 Springfield Race Riot should live in our hearts and minds forever as a constant reminder of man’s capacity for cruelty and inhumanity against his fellow man,” said Austin Randolph, president of the Springfield NAACP branch.  “Make no mistake, there is a whole lot more work to do. Within the struggle in our hearts and minds, lies the desire for equity, peace and healing. This national monument will forever stand for freedom and justice. It will be our solemn reminder of where we came from as it propels us towards where we are destined to be: equal.”

Underscoring that systemic injustice and racial violence remain a scourge and that we must tell the stories of those whose lives are lost and forever changed as a result, the decision happens just five weeks after the shooting of Sonya Massey in her own home in Springfield, after she called police fearing an intruder in her home. A white officer on the scene shot her in the face, killing the 36 year old unarmed Black woman. The America the Beautiful for All Coalition (ATB4A) stands with communities impacted by racial violence and solemnly celebrates the Biden-Harris Administration’s designation that preserves the story of the 1908 Springfield Race Riot. Commemorating hard truths and ensuring they are not lost to history is a critical ingredient to ensuring we are not destined to repeat history. In Springfield, IL, the community deserves to have the stories they have long fought to preserve protected in perpetuity. Telling more of the nation’s story through America’s public lands is a legacy the Biden-Harris Administration should continue. 

A legacy of protecting historic cultural sites

The move comes just weeks after the administration named the site of the Blackwell School in Marfa, Texas, as its newest national park. The Blackwell School was built in 1909 and segregated Mexican American children from their white peers, and violently punished students for speaking Spanish. In addition to the main adobe structure, the protected site included an on-site annex built in 1927.

“President Biden ran for president promising to conserve more lands and cultural sites while fighting for environmental justice for communities of color, and he is delivering,” said Angel Peña, executive director of the Nuestra Tierra Conservation Project. “No administration has done more in modern history to protect public lands, waters and cultural sites.” 

The Biden-Harris administration’s land and water conservation initiatives have drawn praise from the coalition, which is urging the protection of 30 percent of U.S. land and waters by 2030 that prioritizes communities on the frontlines of the climate and nature loss crisis. These efforts are vital to addressing the climate crisis, protecting the health of communities, while promoting wildlife and biological diversity. Securing a future with abundant access to nature and healthy public spaces that are welcoming to all communities starts with ensuring our public lands represent all of us.

Since the launch of the administration’s America the Beautiful initiative, the U.S. has experienced one of the most rapid accelerations of conservation progress in the nation’s history, with more than 41 million acres of land and water conserved in three years. This important surge in protections has been stimulated by local frontline communities who address public health challenges by preserving places of cultural, ecological, and historic significance for the benefit of everyone. 

According to Colorado College’s 2024 “State of the Rockies” poll, voters in every state polled show overwhelming support for the nation’s most ambitious conservation goal in history. “Eight-in-ten (80 percent) support conserving 30 percent of land and inland waters in America, and 30 percent of its ocean areas by 2030, with overwhelming support across party lines.” Sixty-eight percent of Republicans, 83 percent of Independents, and 91 percent of Democrats support the 30 by 30 conservation proposal, Colorado College reports.

Prioritizing Indigenous and Tribal cultural sites

Since U.S. Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland–a Pueblo of Laguna member and the first Native American cabinet member in U.S. history–has taken office, the Department of Interior Secretary and President Biden delivered on two key national monument decisions among others that honored decades of community-led efforts to preserve significant cultural sites. Last year, President Biden and Secretary Haaland created the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in Nevada and Castner Range National Monument in Texas.

The Castner Range monument is under the control of the U.S. Army, who were asked by the White House to work with tribes and the El Paso community to ensure public access. The Army used the desert at Castner Range as a training site between 1926 and 1966, and the site continues to be strewn with untriggered munitions.The first all-Black regiments of U.S. Army units, known as Buffalo Soldiers, were installed on this Department of Defense-administered landscape.

The space was also formerly home to multiple Native American tribes including the Apache and Pueblo peoples, the Comanche Nation, the Hopi Tribe, and the Kiowa Indian Tribe of Oklahoma.

President Biden and Secretary Haaland’s establishment of Avi Kwa Ame National Monument protected 500,000 acres of land in Nevada considered sacred to Native tribes. Known as the “center of creation” by Yuman-speaking Tribes, and sacred to other Indigenous peoples, Avi Kwa Ame means “Spirit Mountain” in the Mojave language. These critical ecological hotspots form a connective tissue for migrating wildlife where ancestral petroglyphs will remain in perpetuity.  

Both monuments were designated using the 1906 Antiquities Act which allows the President to protect landmarks, structures and federal lands for cultural and ecological conservation. The administration’s actions will prevent private development on the lands and ensure that the federal government works with Native Americans to protect these places for generations.

The truths at the intersection of land and history

In moving forward with this monument designation, the Biden-Harris administration furthers efforts made by communities, Tribes and governments at all levels to have America’s public lands reflect a more complete American story, where people of differing races, cultures and religions see themselves reflected in their public lands. 

The coalition believes monuments such as this can teach hard and painful lessons, but also create a more honest and complete interpretation of our public lands and waters.  

In instances like Springfield, they are sobering reminders of systemic injustice that reverberates in communities today. There are also many chapters of triumph, brilliance, and achievement that have not been told, especially critical stories from communities of color left to the margins. These stories must be preserved and told through our public lands. 

A report from the National Religious Partnership for the Environment found that only about 180 of the 2,600 historical landmarks in the country are considered African American historical landmarks. And of the 129 national monuments designated by U.S. presidents since 1906, 12 represent the history and stories of Black people. 

The America the Beautiful for All Coalition, comprised of more than 250 member organizations from across the nation and a variety of missions, calls on the Biden Administration to cement their legacy of preserving special places and lifting up the history of communities of color and Indigenous people in our public lands. There is more work to be done and the coalition stands ready to support local communities and the Biden administration to preserve these stories through our public lands.

The America the Beautiful for All Coalition is the largest and most representative national coalition consisting of more than 250 organizations working collectively to advance the national goal to protect 30% of US land, water and ocean by 2030 (30×30) and apply a Justice40 metric to that goal. These goals comprise national plans to thwart destruction of natural climate solutions; stem the loss of biodiversity; increase equitable access to nature’s benefits. Working across a range of missions, identities, communities and cultures, this coalition is leveraging the national 30×30 goal to write a new chapter of the American conservation movement where its leaders are more representative of the communities on the frontlines of these crises and where collective action leverages a range of lived and learned experience to drive community-based solutions into DC policy-making.  www.americathebeautifulforall.org 

By America the Beautiful for All

Posted: Tuesday, July  2, 2024, by Comms Team

The America the Beautiful for All Coalition Wildlife Workgroup expresses support for the Santa Cruz River Urban National Wildlife Refuge designation in southern Arizona. The establishment of this urban national wildlife refuge would meaningfully contribute to the administration’s America the Beautiful initiative and be a historic example of a locally-led, community-driven conservation and restoration of a culturally and ecologically significant landscape.

The vision for the Santa Cruz River Urban National Wildlife Refuge involves an archipelago of protected properties along the Santa Cruz River that would offer permanent wildlife habitat, outdoor access, and ecotourism. The land in the urban core would anchor this “string of pearls,” offering shade, river access, and outdoor education for the neighboring communities. The Santa Cruz River corridor offers abundant recreation opportunities, including birdwatching at Sweetwater Wetlands, and cycling and walking along the award-winning 137-mile Chuck Huckelberry Loop, a beloved paved recreation trail with dozens of access points that runs alongside the Santa Cruz River and its major tributaries.

Local leaders, alongside restoration volunteers, have created over 17 miles of vibrant habitat that has been foundational to the recovery of native vegetation, wildlife, insects, reptiles, fish and migratory birds. Collaborations between governments, academics, non- profits and volunteers have helped establish the importance of the river corridor for wildlife and connectivity to the surrounding Sky Island mountain ranges. The people of the San Xavier District of the Tohono O’odham Nation have ancestral ties to the flowing Santa Cruz River and the lands around it. The original homeland of the Tohono O’odham Nation is located near what is now downtown Tucson on the river, which the people of the Nation have stewarded for millennia. They continue to access these lands for ongoing cultural and religious practices.

The America the Beautiful for All Coalition Wildlife Workgroup requests the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designate the country’s newest urban national wildlife refuge, the Santa Cruz River Urban National Wildlife Refuge, along the length of the Santa Cruz, south and north of the San Xavier District, in Santa Cruz and Pima Counties to preserve the river’s past, present and future.

“Designation of the Santa Cruz River Urban National Wildlife Refuge would be a celebrated win for community-led conservation efforts. A new national wildlife refuge would protect important habitat for the endangered Southwestern willow flycatcher and hundreds more animals, all while ensuring access for Tucson residents and visitors to connect with nature and cherished wildlife.” – Jewel Tomasula, Policy Advisory at Endangered Species Coalition.

“The Santa Cruz River Urban National Wildlife Refuge is a critical step towards ensuring that everyone, regardless of background, has the opportunity to experience and benefit from the beauty and biodiversity of our natural world. Access to urban green spaces and wildlife sanctuaries is essential for the well-being of marginalized communities. These areas provide critical opportunities for recreation, education, and a connection to nature that enriches our lives and cultural heritage. This refuge will not only protect vital habitats but also foster a sense of stewardship and belonging.” — Adrian Angulo, Campaign and Program Director at Nuestra Tierra Conservation Project.