Presidential Document2023-21651
National Public Lands Day, 2023
Primary source
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Published
September 28, 2023
Signed
September 22, 2023
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 187 (Thursday, September 28, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 187 (Thursday, September 28, 2023)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 67053-67054]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-21651]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 187 / Thursday, September 28, 2023 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 67053]]
Proclamation 10631 of September 22, 2023
National Public Lands Day, 2023
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Our public lands--including our national parks,
monuments, forests, and wildlife preserves--are
irreplaceable and home to so many of the natural
wonders that represent the heart and soul of our
Nation. They unite and inspire us, and from generation
to generation, they have sustained us. On National
Public Lands Day, we welcome every American to
celebrate our Nation's lands and waters in all their
splendor.
As we honor the power and promise of our Nation's
natural majesty, we also recommit to conserving our
lands and waters for generations to come. When we
conserve our public lands, we are doing more than
protecting their beauty. We protect the places where
history was made. We safeguard the air we breathe and
the water we drink. We defend the livelihoods of people
who depend on these lands and waters as a way of life,
like our ranchers, outfitters, guides, and rural and
Indigenous communities. We honor the sacred lands that
Tribal Nations have stewarded since time immemorial. We
make our Nation more resilient to the impacts of
climate change.
That is why my Administration has developed the most
ambitious land and water conservation agenda in
American history. During my first week in office, I
issued an Executive Order establishing the country's
first-ever National Conservation Goal to protect at
least 30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030. That
means supporting locally led, voluntary conservation
and restoration efforts across the country--the very
cornerstone of my ``America the Beautiful'' initiative.
I also signed an Executive Order to protect America's
forests, harness the power of nature in the fight
against climate change, and initiate the first National
Nature Assessment to evaluate the state of our lands,
waters, and wildlife.
Together, we have made strong progress toward those
goals. My Inflation Reduction Act represents the
largest investment in our history dedicated to
confronting the climate crisis. Along with investments
from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, these
investments will also help fuel environmental justice
and conservation efforts, including more than $50
billion dedicated to strengthening the resilience of
our communities and ecosystems to the impacts of
climate change. To address the wildfire crisis, many
Americans who care for our Nation's forests are using
these investments to implement critical conservation
and stewardship practices, working toward our goal of
reducing the wildfire risk on up to 50 million acres of
public and private land through science-based fuels and
forest health treatments--a land size equal to that of
South Dakota.
I have designated five new national monuments and
restored protections for lands and waters across the
country. In Alaska, we protected the Tongass National
Forest and the salmon of Bristol Bay and took
significant steps to protect the fragile coastal plain
of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and special
areas in the Western Arctic. We restored the
protections and status that the previous administration
rolled back in the Bears Ears National Monument, the
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and the
North East Canyons and Seamounts Marine National
Monument. I had the honor of visiting Camp Hale
Continental Divide in Colorado last year and adding
[[Page 67054]]
it to the list of national monuments, for the first
time in our history. I established the Avi Kwa Ame
National Monument in Nevada, considered one of the most
sacred places on Earth by several Tribal Nations. Most
recently, I protected almost one million acres of
public land around the Grand Canyon National Park as
the new Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni National Monument. I
declared the entire United States Arctic Ocean off-
limits to new oil and gas development, and my budget
for next year requests new funding to ensure that
public lands are accessible to every American.
In celebration of our public lands, several Federal
agencies have announced that all of our country's
national parks, forests, refuges, and grasslands will
have a ``Fee-Free Day'' on September 23rd so everyone
can access some of our Nation's most iconic places and
all their wonder, free of charge. There are also
several fee-free days throughout the year, and the last
for 2023 will occur on Veterans Day, November 11th.
Whether it is visiting the rolling hills of the
Appalachians, the majestic Grand Canyon, or the
towering peaks of Mt. Rainier in Washington State, I
encourage all Americans to take some time to explore
the beauty our country has to offer.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of
the United States of America, by virtue of the
authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of
the United States, do hereby proclaim September 23,
2023, as National Public Lands Day. I invite all
Americans to join me in a day of service for our public
lands. I also encourage volunteers from across the
Nation to celebrate and care for our lands and waters
by reforesting the land, maintaining trails, building
bridges, nurturing native ecosystems, removing invasive
species, and doing other conservation work to serve the
lands and waters that support and sustain us.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord
two thousand twenty-three, and of the Independence of
the United States of America the two hundred and forty-
eighth.
<GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 2023-21651
Filed 9-27-23; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3395-F3-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on September 28, 2023.
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