Daily Archives: March 24, 2013

Protect Our Prairies Act reintroduced in the House


Last month, Representatives Noem (R-SD) and Walz (D-MN) introduced legislation to protect America’s remaining native grasslands through a national sodsaver provision. The Protect Our Prairies Act (HR 686), which has the support of nine bipartisan co-sponsors, is common-sense legislation that would reduce taxpayer-funded incentives to destroy vital grassland resources.

            In a statement that NWF released to the press about the bill, Aviva Glaser, Legislative Representative for Agriculture Policy at National Wildlife Federation, said: “America is at risk of losing one our most iconic ecosystems. Native prairies, along with the wildlife that are dependent upon them, are disappearing at an alarming rate. The Protect Our Prairies Act will help protect this vital resource by promoting management practices that conserve native grasslands…With this legislation we can protect vital habitat for declining wildlife and save taxpayer dollars while ensuring that some of the riskiest land for crop production is kept in grazing use. It is critical that the House Agriculture Committee include this national sodsaver provision in the 2013 Farm Bill.”

            Contact your representative and ask them to co-sponsor this important cost-saving and important habitat-saving legislation.

MILLENNIALS COULD MAKE BENEFICIAL IMPACT ON WILDLIFE CONSERVATION

           Photo credit: http://matteam.org/newsletters/MATters2011Q3.pdf
This year the National Wildlife Federation sponsored a roundtable discussion on “Engaging Millennials in the Conservation Movement” at their annual national meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Kassie Rohrbach, a Millennial herself, presided over the roundtable discussion. The roundtable recognized the growing value that Millennials could have on advancing the goals of wildlife conservation. Eighty three million Millennials, born roughly between 1978 and 1996, are highly motivated to make impacts in society in one way or another.  They are adept with electronic social media and communicate well over social networking sites. Their large numbers could sway politicians to make better decisions compatible with wildlife conservation. The Kansas Wildlife Federation is currently designing ways for Millennials to exert an impact on wildlife conservation in Kansas. Meanwhile, if you want to visit Kassie Rohrbach’s Archive for her posts as the NWF’s Fair Climate Network Manager, check it out at http://blog.nwf.org/author/rohrbachk/.