[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 [www.gpo.gov]
[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.
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                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2023-21651
Filed 9-27-23; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3395-F3-P