INTERIOR: Jewell signs order to increase recreation, volunteer opportunities
Jessica Estepa, E&E reporter
Greenwire: Friday, March 21, 2014
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell yesterday signed an order that expands recreational, educational, volunteer and career opportunities for young people and veterans.
Jewell has touted a youth engagement initiative for months in a number of her public appearances and first announced the effort during an October speech at the National Press Club. The signing of the secretarial order -- officially her second since she took charge of the Interior Department last April -- formalizes the department's committment to the issue. Further, the order indicates that the issue will remain a priority for Jewell during her tenure.
"If Americans are going to continue to have healthy lifestyles, healthy lands and a healthy economy, one of the steps we must take is to bridge the growing divide between young people and nature," she said in a statement.
The order lists goals for Interior within the next four years, including:
Enhancing outdoor recreation partnerships with 50 cities.
Providing educational opportunities for at least 10 million young people.
Getting 1 million people to volunteer on public lands annually.
Providing work and training opportunities for 100,000 young people and veterans.
"The DOI is well positioned to expand its work in engaging the next generation, as our bureaus collectively provide 15,500 work opportunities, benefit from 317,000 volunteers, educate more than 4 million young people, and welcome 478 million visitors on our lands each year," the order says.
Within the next 45 days, each Interior bureau and office must develop an implementation plan of this order for fiscal 2014. That includes outlines for how the organization plans to monitor progress toward the order's goals and any problems that may come up.
Within the next six months, the bureaus and offices are required to develop plans for the initiative's progress in fiscal 2015, 2016 and 2017.
