Rough Waters

Photo by Tom Earnhardt

This year, with clear evidence that the Trump Administration is jeopardizing many U.S. environmental conservation and protection programs and policies, with hugely damaging consequences, Gary E. Machlis, former National Park Service science advisor (and Clemson University professor of environmental sustainability), and Jonathan B. Jarvis, retired NPS career professional and national director from 2009 to 2017, co-authored an important and inspirational book. The Future of Conservation in America: a Chart for Rough Water (University of Chicago Press) asserts that we are in a period of “rough water,” affecting many environmental assets and conservation programs. The authors identify three major environmental and social threats (and the dangerous irresponsibility of denying them) confronting America: climate change, species extinction, and economic inequality. Actions are required to navigate through the very rough waters facing us. It is essential to assure that the conservation movement is understood by Americans (and especially by young people) as critically relevant to public health and interest. A general re-commitment to environmental conservation and protection is necessary.  <<continued>>

     The authors say their “chart for the future of conservation” is based on strategic intention. Emphasizing that there should be no boundaries between conservation management of natural and of cultural resources (which are inextricably linked), they call for a new and unified vision of conservation.
     Here are strategies presented by Machlis and Jarvis to guide the future of conservation in the U.S.:

• Monitor, record, and expose the retreat and retrenchment of environmental protection and conservation
• Organize and act to provide science in the public interest
• Base communication of conservation on deeper understandings and broader coalitions of interest
• Incorporate strategic intent and the long view into every action, conflict, or crisis
• Connect all citizens to American nature, history, and culture through first-hand experience
• Expand recognition and sharing of the full American story
• Extend the healthy parks, healthy people strategy to more Americans
• Protect, connect, and grow the network of protected areas across the American land- and sea-scape
• Invest time, effort, and resources in local engagement with respect for local values
• Increase investment in science and better integrate scientific information and insights into decision making
• Integrate climate change into all conservation decisions and actions
• Improve the training of future conservation professionals
• Encourage and support conservationists to run for elected office at local, state, and national levels
• Execute an inter-generational transfer of power

   Advancing a unified vision of conservation will lead to meaningful common cause and help us navigate the rough waters we face. Together, we can respond to the many threats and, with the creativity of the next generation of America’s youth, and the resilience and restorative powers of nature, we can succeed in conserving America’s natural and cultural resources.                          --Chuck Roe, SCP president