FWS Director Ashe and other dignitaries to join in commemoration of the Wilderness Act and the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act at New Jersey’s Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge
WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Wednesday, September 3, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act at Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey. She will be joined by Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Dan Ashe, Congressmen Rodney Frelinghuysen and Leonard Lance, President of The Wilderness Society Jamie Williams, Vice President at the Student Conservation Association Laura Herrin and community leaders.
Jewell will also commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act, which directs that a small portion of revenues from federal offshore oil and gas leasing be used to support parks, boat ramps, bike trails and other recreational facilities, conservation projects and historic preservation across the nation.
The two laws, signed by President Johnson at the same Rose Garden ceremony on September 3, 1964, transformed conservation and outdoor recreation in America, to date protecting more than 109 million acres of pristine landscapes and enabling federal, state and local agencies to undertake more than 40,000 recreation and conservation projects in communities across the country.
Jewell recently toured the nation to highlight the need for Congress to pass President Obama’s budget proposal to reauthorize and permanently fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund at its $900 million authorized level, which has only happened once in its history.
Following Wednesday’s ceremony, Jewell will participate in a service project in the refuge with the Student Conservation Association.