30X30 Alternative Drops, Reality Check Campaign, & More
Here's the latest dispatch.
Good afternoon!
Welcome to Outsider on the Inside. I hope this dispatch from in and around the nation’s capital on underreported topics finds you well.
If you’re just discovering my musings, here’s a backgrounder.
Here’s what I have for you this week:
30X30 Alternative: Western Conservation Principles
The Biden administration is perpetuating its misguided campaign to preserve, not conserve, America’s natural resources.
On May 7th, the Department of Interior dropped its “Conserving and Restoring America the Beautiful 2021” plan. It’s viewed as the U.S.’s response to 30X30—a vague, nice-sounding yet potentially problematic initiative to “protect 30 percent of waters and 30 percent of lands” by 2030.
This report is a product of the Biden administration’s January 27th Executive Order 14008 entitled “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad.”
For too long, preservationist environmentalists have conflated conservation (wise use of natural resources) with preservation (non-use of natural resources). If the plan proceeds, it’ll shut out true conservationists from stakeholder discussions and give special interests undue influence over natural resources management.
In response, Congressional and Senatorial Western Caucus members have released an alternative plan, Western Conservation Principles, to address the plan’s shortcomings—faulting it for being insufficiently conservationist in nature.
Reality Check with Beth Alcazar and Chris Cheng
Nearly 14 million gun-sale background checks have been conducted in 2021.
As more Americans purchase firearms, it’s natural to see participants from more diverse racial and socio-economic backgrounds. For gun control interests, this is unsettling. Why? They arrogantly assume it’s sexist and racist to support gun rights. And they couldn’t be more wrong.
That’s why organizations like the U.S. Concealed Carry Association (USCCA) hope to capitalize on this positive trend through their Reality Check campaign.
I recently spoke to two USCCA ambassadors, firearms instructor Beth Alcazar and Top Shot Season 4 Champion Chris Cheng, on why a strengthened firearms community can derail gun control policies going forward.
ICYMI: ‘Freedom in Freelancing’ Casting Call
Are you a Virginia freelancer or Virginian who hires freelancers? Want to tell your story? Participate in a new video series I’m co-producing with my friend Madison Hughes. (It’s being sponsored by AFP-Virginia too!)
Details for submissions:
Seeking 8-10 participants in Northern Virginia, Charlottesville, Fredericksburg, & Richmond
Accepting submissions until October 22nd
Filming October 25-29th
Releasing early November
Podcasts You May Have Missed
Here are District of Conservation episodes you may have missed.
EP 218: USCCA Reality Check Campaign with Beth Alcazar and Chris Cheng
EP 219: The Brewing Wolf War, REEF Act, Fishermen Sound Alarm on Offshore Wind Turbines
EP 220: Biden Administration Reignites Debate on Controversial National Monument Designations
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—Gabriella