KEYNOTE: Educate, Engage, and Employ--DOI and Service Fisheries Program Approaches towards (Re)Connecting People with Nature

Federally-managed or sponsored environmental education, interpretive programs, citizen science-based activities, and related efforts to connect people with nature have existed for decades. Yet an-ever increasing body of literature documenting, and the growing awareness of the implications from, the increasing disconnect of the American public, particularly youth, with the natural world has spurred the Department of the Interior and its agencies such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to re-evaluate and redouble efforts to educate, engage, and employ citizens of all ages in conservation activities. These efforts were given a substantial boost when President Barak Obama launched the America’s Great Outdoors initiative in February 2011.  The stakes for the future are high: as Charles Jordan, Director Emeritus of the Conservation Fund says, “"What people do not understand, they do not value, what they do not value, they will not protect, and what they do not protect, they will lose.”

This presentation will provide an overview of the framework and strategies being deployed by the Department of Interior, and in particular, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Fisheries Resources program to get Americans of all ages outdoors, promote environmental education and ecological literacy, and provide, for young adults aged 15-25, multi-disciplinary job opportunities in natural resource conservation. Using examples of Service aquatic conservation education programs and activities around the country as a reference point and inspiration, we will talk about the challenges and opportunities, and our role and responsibility as conservation professionals, to address one of the most critical resource issues of the 21^st Century: providing citizens of all ages with opportunities to experience, conserve, protect, and enhance the natural world all around us.