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Yesterday, the Biden Administration outlined its vision to conserve 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030, commonly known as the “30 by 30 Initiative.” The administration’s “Conserving and Restoring America the Beautiful” report is a ten-year conservation plan that focuses on expanding collaborative conservation efforts, restoring critical ecosystems, such as the Everglades and Great Lakes, and increasing access for outdoor recreation.

The plan highlights the conservation and economic benefits of the recreational boating and angling community by noting, “[A]dditional conservation can and should improve access for hunting, fishing, hiking, boating, and other forms of outdoor recreation. Improved access to public lands and waters—in an equitable, well-managed and sustainable manner— can broaden and deepen connections to nature and its benefits, and encourage the next generation of outdoor stewards. Hunters, anglers, and other outdoor enthusiasts have not only played a positive role in stewarding our nation’s lands, waters, and wildlife, but they also generate significant economic benefits to local communities.”

NMMA is encouraged by the administration’s “America the Beautiful” Initiative and its focus on accessible recreation access, including that for the recreational boating community.

“As a community dependent on clean water, healthy fisheries, and reasonable and responsible access to our natural resources, implementing this plan will put us on a trajectory toward maintaining and advancing these conservation objectives,” said Frank Hugelmeyer, president of NMMA. “We appreciate the administration’s balanced approach to 30x30, and on behalf of the uniquely American-made recreational boating industry, NMMA strongly supports this collaborative effort.”

Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, the nation’s leading coalition of outdoor recreation trade associations, also offered its support for the plan. “ORR supports the administration’s ‘Conserving and Restoring America the Beautiful’ effort and we are encouraged by its goals to conserve and protect our nation’s lands and waters through science-based, locally led efforts that create access to motorized, non-motorized, fishing and hunting recreation opportunities for all,” said Jessica Turner, executive director of Outdoor Recreation Roundtable. “We are also particularly pleased that this report prioritizes recreation access that already exists, while recognizing that access be maintained sustainably in the future as places are conserved.”

NMMA will continue working with the administration and policymakers throughout the implementation of this plan. For more information, please contact NMMA director of federal government relations, Clay Crabtree at [email protected].