-
https://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/files/original/7451aa3bdd6ad8065b22f22d8838e01a.pdf
3f0485751281b6144e8ac5355af755a3
PDF Text
Text
FOIA Number:
2006-0470-F
FOIA
MARKER
This is not a textual record. This is used as an
administrative marker by the William J. Clinton
Presidential Library Staff.
Collection/Record Group:
Clinton Presidential Records
Subgroup/Office of Origin:
Speechwriting
Series/Staff Member:
Lowell Weiss
Subseries:
17199
OA/ID Number:
FolderlD:
Folder Title:
Department of the Interior 150th 3/4/99 [3]
Stack:
Row:
Section:
Shelf:
Position:
s
92
2
6
3
�Draft 3/4/99 10:30am
Lowell Weiss
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
REMARKS AT DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR'S
150TH ANNIVERSARY EVENT
WASHINGTON, DC
March 4,1999
Acknowledge: Sec. Babbitt: a brilliant leader who does not take the concept of stewardship
lightly. I know aU cabinet secretaries talk about putting out fires at their agencies, but Sec. Babbitt
actually grabs his gear and puts out real fires - forest fires ~ out west. Former Interior Sec. Thomas
Kleppe: EPA Admin. Browner: John Podesta: Dagmar Fertl. Mark Oliver, and all the other award
winners; Interior employees here and across the country. I also want to thank the Great American
Indian Dancers and the many tribal leaders here with us today. As we continue to work together to
improve the quality of life in Indian country, I want to reaffirm my commitment to the govemmentto-govemment relationship that exists between my Admin, and the 558 federally recognized tribes.
Thank you very much for inviting me to be a small part of this big day. Frankly, you picked
the right guy for the job - I've been benefitting from your good work all my life. I was raised in
Hot Springs, the first city in America to contain a National Park, and I spent my first 18 years in a
state that is more than half covered with pine and hardwood forests. When I graduated from law
school, I went home to the hills of north Arkansas, and I spent some of the happiest days of my life
along the Buffalo River ~ America's very first National River. And today, my family and I have
the great honor of living in the most beautiful home under the care of the National Park System. Of
course, our lease is up in 1 year, 10 months, and 16 days — but who's counting?
More than any other part of the Federal government, the history of the Interior Department is
the history of America. It is the story of manifest destiny and our great western expansion. It is
story of fertilefieldsrising from arid desert, of a people rising from the depths of the Great
Depression, of a nation marshaling the resources to win two world wars. It is the story of scientific
discovery and restless exploration. It is the story of our country's struggles to expand opportunity
for Indians, the First Americans, as well as aU Americans ~ as when Harold Ickes invited Marian
Anderson to sing from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial 60 years ago, on Easter of 1939.
Most of all, as Sec. Babbitt has said, it is the story of America's ever-growing will to
conserve and restore our precious natural treasures. It is no secret that in 1849, when this
department was launched with a headquarters staff of 10 and budget of $14,200, it lacked a unifying
purpose. Today, the contrast is remarkable. Under the leadership of Sec. Babbitt, everything this
department does is guided by a single defining principle: stewardship. As wise and dedicated
stewards, you act in the humble recognition that all of us are but brief visitors on this Earth. You
understand that everything we want for our children depends on protecting the forests and streams
and deserts that were here so long before we arrived. Today, the "Department of Everything Else"
is ~ and will forever be ~ the Department of Stewardship. You should be very proud.
Using a skillful touch - not a heavy hand - you have achieved remarkable results. Three
years ago, we set out on a mission to preserve California's Headwaters Forest, the world's largest
�unprotected stand of old-growth redwoods. And just three days ago, we did it. Thanks to the
tireless efforts of so many people here and at your sister agency NOAA, not one of the magnificent
trees of Headwaters Forest will ever be logged. Anyone who has ever strolled through a grove of
redwoods ~ a tangle of ferns at your feet, a living canopy reaching far overhead ~ knows that these
ancient forests are as much a part of our legacy as the world's greatest cathedrals. Thanks to you,
the redwoods of Headwaters are now safe for all time.
We should also be proud that over the past six years we set aside vast, unspoiled areas of the
Mojave Desert, designating three new National Parks. We put a stop to a massive mining operation
that threatened Yellowstone, the world's very first National Park. To protect Utah's stunning redrock canyons, we created the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and completed the
largest land exchange in the continental U.S. And, of course, we are restoring the Florida
Everglades ~ the largest restoration project ever undertaken in our nation's history.
But we have much more work to do. This year, the last year of the 20th Century, we must
dedicate ourselves to building on these accomplishments and charting a new course of stewardship
for the next century.
First, we must preserve more precious lands. I will soon send to Congress a plan to bestow
the highest level of wilderness protection on more than 5 million acres of backcountry lands within
Yellowstone, Glacier, and Other National Parks. In these vast regions, the roar of bulldozers and
chainsaws will never again drown out the call of the wild.
I am also proposing an unprecedented $1 billion Lands Legacy Initiative. This initiative will
allow us to continue your efforts to protect natural and historic lands across the country ~ such as
Civil War battlefields, remote stretches of the historic Lewis and Clark Trail, and an additional
450,000 acres in and around Mojave and Joshua Tree National Parks.
It also will allow us to meet the stewardship challenges of a new century. It's no longer
enough for our nation to preserve its grandest natural wonders. As communities continue to grow
and expand, it has become every bit as important to preserve the small but sacred green and open
spaces closer to home. So my Lands Legacy Initiative will also help communities protect meadows
and seashores where children can play ... streams where sportsmen and -women can fish ...
farmlands that produce thefreshharvests we often take for granted.
We believe this Lands Legacy Initiative must be a permanent legacy. So today, I pledge to
work with Congress to create, for the first time ever, a guaranteed fund for protecting and restoring
priceless lands across America. There are many good legislative ideas for achieving this goal. We
believe that any solution must provide at least $1 billion annually, with at least half dedicated to
helping communities protect local green spaces. It also must recognize the unique environmental
challenges of coastal states, without creating any new incentives for offshore oil drilling. Working
together, we can ensure that not only our generation, but each generation to come, will have the
resources to leave an even better land for those who follow.
Second, as we help preserve more open spaces, we have a great opportunity to help create
more livable communities ~ healthy communities where people don't have to waste a gallon of gas
�to go buy a gallon of milk, where employers have no trouble recruiting workers interested in a high
quality of life. So the Vice President and I have proposed record funding for public transit and
Better America Bonds to help communities grow in ways that ensure a clean environment and
strong, sustainable economic development.
Third, we must clean up the 40% of our waterways that are still too polluted for fishing and
swimming. I call on Congress to fully fund my Clean Water Action Plan and to reauthorize and
strengthen the Clean Water Act.
Fourth, we must do more to meet our most profound environmental challenge - global
warming. I have proposed a Clean Air Partnership Fund to help communities reduce both
greenhouse pollution and smog, as well as tax and research incentives to spur clean-energy
technologies. And I want to work with members of Congress in both parties to reward companies
that take early, voluntary action to reduce greenhouse gases.
By working together, by upholding the value of stewardship, we can do all these things. So
I say to Congress: This year, instead of wasting precious time battling over senseless antienvironmental riders, let's get right to work. Let's use the final year of the 20th century to launch
the greatest era of stewardship our country has ever known.
One hundred fifty years ago, when the Interior Department was bom, tens of thousands of
brave pioneers were setting out in search of land on the vast but unforgiving American frontier. It is
easy to understand why many saw nature primarily as a resource to be exploited and an obstacle to
be overcome.
But today, thanks in great measure to generations of Department of Interior visionaries like
John Wesley Powell. Harold Ickes. and Rachel Carson, most of us see in nature a divine, if fragile,
gift. I remember precisely where that became clear to me. It was in the gorgeous region where Sec.
Babbitt grew up. I was on my first visit to the Grand Canyon, in the summer of 1971. I found a
place on a rock overlooking the canyon where I was all alone. For two hours I sat down on that
rock and I watched the sunset. And I watched the colors change layer after layer for two hours. I
could have sat there for two days if the sun had just taken a little longer to set.
That kind of moment is indescribably powerful, almost like the birth of a child. It's the kind
of beauty you just can't convey in a photograph or a book ~ or in a speech. You simply need to see
it for yourself. And thank God, you can. Thank God our forebears felt an abiding responsibility not
only to their own generations but to ours. Standing at the edge of a new century, I am deeply
grateful for their altruism and foresight. I am grateful that they taught us the enduring value of
stewardship. And I am grateful to all of you here today who are making this noble cause your life's
work. Congratulations on this momentous milestone. And God bless you all.
###
�Draft 3/4/99 10:30am
Lowell Weiss
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
REMARKS AT DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR'S
150TH ANNIVERSARY EVENT
WASHINGTON, DC
March 4,1999
Acknowledge: Sec. Babbitt: a brilliant leader who does not take the concept of stewardship
lightly. I know all cabinet secretaries talk about putting out fires at their agencies, but Sec. Babbitt
actually grabs his gear and puts out realfires~ forestfires~ out west. Former Interior Sec. Thomas
Kleppe: EPA Admin. Browner: John Podesta: Dagmar Fertl. Mark Oliver, and all the other award
winners; Interior employees here and across the country. I also want to thank the Great American
Indian Dancers and the many tribal leaders here with us today. As we continue to work together to
improve the quality of life in Indian country, I want to reaffirm my commitment to the govemmentto-govemment relationship that exists between my Admin, and the 558 federally recognized tribes.
Thank you very much for inviting me to be a small part of this big day. Frankly, you picked
the right guy for the job — I've been benefitting from your good work all my life. I was raised in
Hot Springs, the first city in America to contain a National Park, and I spent my first 18 years in a
state that is more than half covered with pine and hardwood forests. When I graduated from law
school, I went home to the hills of north Arkansas, and I spent some of the happiest days of my life
along the Buffalo River — America's very first National River. And today, my family and I have
the great honor of living in the most beautiful home under the care ofthe National Park System. Of
course, our lease is up in 1 year, 10 months, and 16 days ~ but who's counting?
More than any other part of the Federal government, the history ofthe Interior Department is
the history of America. It is the story of manifest destiny and our great western expansion. It is
story of fertilefieldsrising from arid desert, of a people rising from the depths of the Great
Depression, of a nation marshaling the resources to win two world wars. It is the story of scientific
discovery and restless exploration. It is the story of our country's struggles to expand opportunity
for Indians, the First Americans, as well as all Americans ~ as when Harold Ickes invited Marian
Anderson to sing from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial 60 years ago, on Easter of 1939.
Most of all, as Sec. Babbitt has said, it is the story of America's ever-growing will to
conserve and restore our precious natural treasures. It is no secret that in 1849, when this
department was launched with a headquarters staff of 10 and budget of $14,200, it lacked a unifying
purpose. Today, the contrast is remarkable. Under the leadership of Sec. Babbitt, everything this
department does is guided by a single defining principle: stewardship. As wise and dedicated
stewards, you act in the humble recognition that all of us are but brief visitors on this Earth. You
understand that everything we want for our children depends on protecting the forests and streams
and deserts that were here so long before we arrived. Today, the "Department of Everything Else"
is ~ and will forever be ~ the Department of Stewardship. You should be very proud.
Using a skillful touch - not a heavy hand ~ you have achieved remarkable results. Three
years ago, we set out on a mission to preserve California's Headwaters Forest, the world's largest
�unprotected stand of old-growth redwoods. And just three days ago, we did it. Thanks to the
tireless efforts of so many people here and at your sister agency NOAA, not one of the magnificent
trees of Headwaters Forest will ever be logged. Anyone who has ever strolled through a grove of
redwoods ~ a tangle of ferns at your feet, a living canopy reaching far overhead -- knows that these
ancient forests are as much a part of our legacy as the world's greatest cathedrals. Thanks to you,
the redwoods of Headwaters are now safe for all time.
We should also be proud that over the past six years we set aside vast, unspoiled areas ofthe
Mojave Desert, designating three new National Parks. We put a stop to a massive mining operation
that threatened Yellowstone, the world's very first National Park. To protect Utah's stunning redrock canyons, we created the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and completed the
largest land exchange in the continental U.S. And, of course, we are restoring the Florida
Everglades ~ the largest restoration project ever undertaken in our nation's history.
But we have much more work to do. This year, the last year of the 20th Century, we must
dedicate ourselves to building on these accomplishments and charting a new course of stewardship
for the next century.
First, we must preserve more precious lands. I will soon send to Congress a plan to bestow
the highest level of wilderness protection on more than 5 million acres of backcountry lands within
Yellowstone, Glacier, and other National Parks. In these vast regions, the roar of bulldozers and
chainsaws will never again drown out the call of the wild.
I am also proposing an unprecedented $1 billion Lands Legacy Initiative. This initiative will
allow us to continue your efforts to protect natural and historic lands across the country ~ such as
Civil War battlefields, remote stretches of the historic Lewis and Clark Trail, and an additional
450,000 acres in and around Mojave and Joshua Tree National Parks.
It also will allow us to meet the stewardship challenges of a new century. It's no longer
enough for our nation to preserve its grandest natural wonders. As communities continue to grow
and expand, it has become every bit as important to preserve the small but sacred green and open
spaces closer to home. So my Lands Legacy Initiative will also help communities protect meadows
and seashores where children can play ... streams where sportsmen and -women can fish ...
farmlands that produce the fresh harvests we often take for granted.
We believe this Lands Legacy Initiative must be a permanent legacy. So today, I pledge to
work with Congress to create, for the first time ever, a guaranteed fund for protecting and restoring
priceless lands across America. There are many good legislative ideas for achieving this goal. We
believe that any solution must provide at least $1 billion annually, with at least half dedicated to
helping communities protect local green spaces. It also must recognize the unique environmental
challenges of coastal states, without creating any new incentives for offshore oil drilling. Working
together, we can ensure that not only QUI generation, but each generation to come, will have the
resources to leave an even better land for those who follow.
Second, as we help preserve more open spaces, we have a great opportunity to help create
more livable communities ~ healthy communities where people don't have to waste a gallon of gas
�to go buy a gallon of milk, where employers have no trouble recruiting workers interested in a high
quality of life. So the Vice President and I have proposed record funding for public transit and
Better America Bonds to help communities grow in ways that ensure a clean environment and
strong, sustainable economic development.
Third, we must clean up the 40% of our waterways that are still too polluted for fishing and
swimming. I call on Congress to fully fund my Clean Water Action Plan and to reauthorize and
strengthen the Clean Water Act.
Fourth, we must do more to meet our most profound environmental challenge - global
warming. I have proposed a Clean Air Partnership Fund to help communities reduce both
greenhouse pollution and smog, as well as tax and research incentives to spur clean-energy
technologies. And I want to work with members of Congress in both parties to reward companies
that take early, voluntary action to reduce greenhouse gases.
By working together, by upholding the value of stewardship, we can do all these things. So
I say to Congress: This year, instead of wasting precious time battling over senseless antienvironmental riders, let's get right to work. Let's use the final year of the 20th century to launch
the greatest era of stewardship our country has ever known.
One hundred fifty years ago, when the Interior Department was bom, tens of thousands of
brave pioneers were setting out in search of land on the vast but unforgiving American frontier. It is
easy to understand why many saw nature primarily as a resource to be exploited and an obstacle to
be overcome.
But today, thanks in great measure to generations of Department of Interior visionaries like
John Wesley Powell. Harold Ickes. and Rachel Carson, most of us see in nature a divine, if fragile,
gift. I remember precisely where that became clear to me. It was in the gorgeous region where Sec.
Babbitt grew up. I was on my first visit to the Grand Canyon, in the summer of 1971. I found a
place on a rock overlooking the canyon where I was all alone. For two hours I sat down on that
rock and I watched the sunset. And I watched the colors change layer after layer for two hours. I
could have sat there for two days if the sun had just taken a little longer to set.
That kind of moment is indescribably powerful, almost like the birth of a child. It's the kind
of beauty you just can't convey in a photograph or a book -- or in a speech. You simply need to see
it for yourself. And thank God, you can. Thank God our forebears felt an abiding responsibility not
only to their own generations but to ours. Standing at the edge of a new century, I am deeply
grateful for their altruism and foresight. I am grateful that they taught us the enduring value of
stewardship. And I am grateful to all of you here today who are making this noble cause your life's
work. Congratulations on this momentous milestone. And God bless you all.
###
�Draft 3/4/99 10:30am
Lowell Weiss
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
REMARKS AT DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR'S
150TH ANNIVERSARY EVENT
WASHINGTON, DC
March 4,1999
Acknowledge: Sec. Babbitt: a brilliant leader who does not take the concept of stewardship
lightly. I know aU cabinet secretaries talk about putting out fires at their agencies, but Sec. Babbitt
actually grabs his gear and puts outrealfires- forestfires~ out west. Former Interior Sec. Thomas
Kleppe: EPA Admin. Browner: John Podesta: Dagmar Fertl. Mark Oliver, and all the other award
winners; Interior employees here and across the country. I also want to thank the Great American
Indian Dancers and the many tribal leaders here with us today. As we continue to work together to
improve the quality of life in Indian country, I want to reaffirm my commitment to the govemmentto-govemment relationship that exists between my Admin, and the 558 federally recognized tribes.
Thank you very much for inviting me to be a small part of this big day. Frankly, you picked
the right guy for the job ~ I've been benefitting from your good work all my life. I was raised in
Hot Springs, the first city in America to contain a National Park, and I spent my first 18 years in a
state that is more than half covered with pine and hardwood forests. When I graduated from law
school, I went home to the hills of north Arkansas, and I spent some of the happiest days of my life
along the Buffalo River — America's very first National River. And today, my family and I have
the great honor of living in the most beautiful home under the care of the National Park System. Of
course, our lease is up in 1 year, 10 months, and 16 days - but who's counting?
More than any other part of the Federal government, the history of the Interior Department is
the history of America. It is the story of manifest destiny and our great western expansion. It is
story of fertile fields rising from arid desert, of a people rising from the depths ofthe Great
Depression, of a nation marshaling the resources to win two world wars. It is the story of scientific
discovery and restless exploration. It is the story of our country's struggles to expand opportunity
for Indians, the First Americans, as well as ail Americans ~ as when Harold Ickes invited Marian
Anderson to sing from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial 60 years ago, on Easter of 1939.
Most of all, as Sec. Babbitt has said, it is the story of America's ever-growing will to
conserve and restore our precious natural treasures. It is no secret that in 1849, when this
department was launched with a headquarters staff of 10 and budget of $14,200, it lacked a unifying
purpose. Today, the contrast is remarkable. Under the leadership of Sec. Babbitt, everything this
department does is guided by a single defining principle: stewardship. As wise and dedicated
stewards, you act in the humble recognition that all of us are but brief visitors on this Earth. You
understand that everything we want for our children depends on protecting the forests and streams
and deserts that were here so long before we arrived. Today, the "Depaitment of Everything Else"
is - and will forever be - the Department of Stewardship. You should be very proud.
Using a skillful touch - not a heavy hand ~ you have achieved remarkable results. Three
years ago, we set out on a mission to preserve California's Headwaters Forest, the world's largest
�unprotected stand of old-growth redwoods. And just three days ago, we did it. Thanks to the
tireless efforts of so many people here and at your sister agency NOAA, not one of the magnificent
trees of Headwaters Forest will ever be logged. Anyone who has ever strolled through a grove of
redwoods -- a tangle of ferns at your feet, a living canopy reaching far overhead ~ knows that these
ancient forests are as much a part of our legacy as the world's greatest cathedrals. Thanks to you,
the redwoods of Headwaters are now safe for all time.
We should also be proud that over the past six years we set aside vast, unspoiled areas of the
Mojave Desert, designating three new National Parks. We put a stop to a massive mining operation
that threatened Yellowstone, the world's very first National Park. To protect Utah's stunning redrock canyons, we created the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and completed the
largest land exchange in the continental U.S. And, of course, we are restoring the Florida
Everglades ~ the largest restoration project ever undertaken in our nation's history.
But we have much more work to do. This year, the last year of the 20th Century, we must
dedicate ourselves to building on these accomplishments and charting a new course of stewardship
for the next century.
First, we must preserve more precious lands. I will soon send to Congress a plan to bestow
the highest level of wilderness protection on more than 5 million acres of backcountry lands within
Yellowstone, Glacier, and other National Parks. In these vast regions, the roar of bulldozers and
chainsaws will never again drown out the call of the wild.
I am also proposing an unprecedented $1 billion Lands Legacy Initiative. This initiative will
allow us to continue your efforts to protect natural and historic lands across the country — such as
Civil War battlefields, remote stretches ofthe historic Lewis and Clark Trail, and an additional
450,000 acres in and around Mojave and Joshua Tree National Parks.
It also will allow us to meet the stewardship challenges of a new century. It's no longer
enough for our nation to preserve its grandest natural wonders. As communities continue to grow
and expand, it has become every bit as important to preserve the small but sacred green and open
spaces closer to home. So my Lands Legacy Initiative will also help communities protect meadows
and seashores where children can play ... streams where sportsmen and -women can fish ...
farmlands that produce thefreshharvests we often take for granted.
We believe this Lands Legacy Initiative must be a permanent legacy. So today, I pledge to
work with Congress to create, for the first time ever, a guaranteed fund for protecting and restoring
priceless lands across America. There are many good legislative ideas for achieving this goal. We
believe that any solution must provide at least $1 billion annually, with at least half dedicated to
helping communities protect local green spaces. It also must recognize the unique environmental
challenges of coastal states, without creating any new incentives for offshore oil drilling. Working
together, we can ensure that not only our generation, but each generation to come, will have the
resources to leave an even better land for those who follow.
Second, as we help preserve more open spaces, we have a great opportunity to help create
more livable communities ~ healthy communities where people don't have to waste a gallon of gas
�to go buy a gallon of milk, where employers have no trouble recruiting workers interested in a high
quality of life. So the Vice President and I have proposed record funding for public transit and
Better America Bonds to help communities grow in ways that ensure a clean environment and
strong, sustainable economic development.
Third, we must clean up the 40% of our waterways that are still too polluted for fishing and
swimming. I call on Congress to fully fund my Clean Water Action Plan and to reauthorize and
strengthen the Clean Water Act.
Fourth, we must do more to meet our most profound environmental challenge - global
warming. I have proposed a Clean Air Partnership Fund to help communities reduce both
greenhouse pollution and smog, as well as tax and research incentives to spur clean-energy
technologies. And I want to work with members of Congress in both parties to reward companies
that take early, voluntary action to reduce greenhouse gases.
By working together, by upholding the value of stewardship, we can do all these things. So
I say to Congress: This year, instead of wasting precious time battling over senseless antienvironmental riders, let's get right to work. Let's use the final year ofthe 20th century to launch
the greatest era of stewardship our country has ever known.
One hundred fifty years ago, when the Interior Department was bom, tens of thousands of
brave pioneers were setting out in search of land on the vast but unforgiving American frontier. It is
easy to understand why many saw nature primarily as a resource to be exploited and an obstacle to
be overcome.
But today, thanks in great measure to generations of Department of Interior visionaries like
John Wesley Powell. Harold Ickes. and Rachel Carson, most of us see in nature a divine, i f fragile,
gift. I remember precisely where that became clear to me. It was in the gorgeous region where Sec.
Babbitt grew up. I was on my first visit to the Grand Canyon, in the summer of 1971. I found a
place on a rock overlooking the canyon where I was all alone. For two hours I sat down on that
rock and I watched the sunset. And I watched the colors change layer after layer for two hours. I
could have sat there for two days if the sun had just taken a little longer to set.
That kind of moment is indescribably powerful, almost like the birth of a child. It's the kind
of beauty you just can't convey in a photograph or a book - or in a speech. You simply need to see
it for yourself. And thank God, you can. Thank God our forebears felt an abiding responsibility not
only to their own generations but to ours. Standing at the edge of a new century, I am deeply
grateful for their altruism and foresight. I am grateful that they taught us the enduring value of
stewardship. And I am grateful to all of you here today who are making this noble cause your life's
work. Congratulations on this momentous milestone. And God bless you all.
###
�Draft 3/4/99 10:30am
Lowell Weiss
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
REMARKS AT DEPARTMENT
OF THE INTERIOR'S
150TH ANNIVERSARY EVENT
WASHINGTON, DC
March 4,1999
�Acknowledge: Sec. Babbitt: a brilliant leader who
does not take the concept of stewardship lightly. I know .all
cabinet secretaries talk about putting out fires at their
agencies, but Sec. Babbitt actually grabs his gear and puts
out real fires - forest fires ~ out west. Former Interior Sec.
Thomas Kleppe; EPA Admin. Browner; John Podesta;
Dagmar Fertl, Mark Oliver, and all the other award
winners; Interior employees here and across the country. I
also want to thank the Great American Indian Dancers and
the many tribal leaders here with us today. As we continue
to work together to improve the quality of life in Indian
country, I want to reaffirm my commitment to the
govemment-to-govemment relationship that exists between
my Admin, and the 558 federally recognized tribes.
�Thank you very much for inviting me to be a small part
of this big day. Frankly, you picked the right guy for the
job - I've been benefittingfromyour good work all my
life. I was raised in Hot Springs, the first city in America to
contain a National Park, and I spent my first 18 years in a
state that is more than half covered with pine and hardwood
forests. When I graduatedfromlaw school, I went home to
the hills of north Arkansas, and I spent some of the happiest
days of my life along the Buffalo River « America's very
first National River. And today, my family and I have the
great honor of living in the most beautiful home under the
care of the National Park System. Of course, our lease is up
in 1 year, 10 months, and 16 days - but who's counting?
�More than any other part of the Federal government,
the history of the Interior Department is the history of
America. It is the story of manifest destiny and our great
western expansion. It is story of fertile fields rising from
arid desert, of a people risingfromthe depths of the Great
Depression, of a nation marshaling the resources to win two
world wars. It is the story of scientific discovery and
restless exploration. It is the story of our country's
struggles to expand opportunity for Indians, the First
Americans, as well as all Americans « as when Harold
Ickes invited Marian Anderson to singfromthe steps of the
Lincoln Memorial 60 years ago, on Easter of 1939.
�Most of all, as Sec. Babbitt has said, it is the story of
America's ever-growing will to conserve and restore our
precious natural treasures. It is no secret that in 1849, when
this department was launched with a headquarters staff of
10 and budget of $14,200, it lacked a unifying purpose.
Today, the contrast is remarkable. Under the leadership of
Sec. Babbitt, everything this department does is guided by a
single defining principle: stewardship. As wise and
dedicated stewards, you act in the humble recognition that
all of us are but brief visitors on this Earth. You understand
that everything we want for our children depends on
protecting the forests and streams and deserts that were here
so long before we arrived. Today, the "Department of
Everything Else" is ~ and will forever be ~ the Department
of Stewardship. You should be very proud.
4
�Using a skillful touch - not a heavy hand ~ you have
achieved remarkable results. Three years ago, we set out on
a mission to preserve California's Headwaters Forest, the
world's largest unprotected stand of old-growth redwoods.
And just three days ago, we did it. Thanks to the tireless
efforts of so many people here and at your sister agency
NOAA, not one of the magnificent trees of Headwaters
Forest will ever be logged. Anyone who has ever strolled
through a grove of redwoods — a tangle of ferns at your
feet, a living canopy reaching far overhead - knows that
these ancient forests are as much a part of our legacy as the
world's greatest cathedrals. Thanks to you, the redwoods
of Headwaters are now safe for all time.
�We should also be proud that over the past six years we
set aside vast, unspoiled areas of the Mojave Desert,
designating three new National Parks. We put a stop to a
massive mining operation that threatened Yellowstone, the
world's very first National Park. To protect Utah's
stunning red-rock canyons, we created the Grand StaircaseEscalante National Monument and completed the largest
land exchange in the continental U.S. And, of course, we
are restoring the Florida Everglades ~ the largest
restoration project ever undertaken in our nation's history.
But we have much more work to do. This year, the last
year of the 20th Century, we must dedicate ourselves to
building on these accomplishments and charting a new
course of stewardship for the next century.
6
�First, we must preserve more precious lands. I will
soon send to Congress a plan to bestow the highest level of
wilderness protection on more than 5 million acres of
backcountry lands within Yellowstone, Glacier, and other
National Parks. In these vast regions, the roar of bulldozers
and chainsaws will never again drown out the call of the
wild.
I am also proposing an unprecedented $1 billion Lands
Legacy Initiative. This initiative will allow us to continue
your efforts to protect natural and historic lands across the
country — such as Civil War battlefields, remote stretches
of the historic Lewis and Clark Trail, and an additional
450,000 acres in and around Mojave and Joshua Tree
National Parks.
�It also will allow us to meet the stewardship challenges
of a new century. It's no longer enough for our nation to
preserve its grandest natural wonders. As communities
continue to grow and expand, it has become every bit as
important to preserve the small but sacred green and open
spaces closer to home. So my Lands Legacy Initiative will
also help communities protect meadows and seashores
where children can play ... streams where sportsmen and women can fish ... farmlands that produce thefreshharvests
we often take for granted.
We believe this Lands Legacy Initiative must be a
permanent legacy. So today, I pledge to work with
Congress to create, for the first time ever, a guaranteed fund
for protecting and restoring priceless lands across America.
8
�There are many good legislative ideas for achieving this
goal. We believe that any solution must provide at least $1
billion annually, with at least half dedicated to helping
communities protect local green spaces. It also must
recognize the unique environmental challenges of coastal
states, without creating any new incentives for offshore oil
drilling. Working together, we can ensure that not only .our
generation, but each generation to come, will have the
resources to leave an even better land for those who follow.
Second, as we help preserve more open spaces, we
have a great opportunity to help create more livable
communities -- healthy communities where people don't
have to waste a gallon of gas to go buy a gallon of milk,
where employers have no trouble recruiting workers
interested in a high quality of life.
9
�So the Vice President and I have proposed record funding
for public transit and Better America Bonds to help
communities grow in ways that ensure a clean environment
and strong, sustainable economic development.
Third, we must clean up the 40% of our waterways that
are still too polluted for fishing and swimming. I call on
Congress to fully fund my Clean Water Action Plan and to
reauthorize and strengthen the Clean Water Act.
Fourth, we must do more to meet our most profound
environmental challenge -- global warming. I have
proposed a Clean Air Partnership Fund to help communities
reduce both greenhouse pollution and smog, as well as tax
and research incentives to spur clean-energy technologies.
10
�And I want to work with members of Congress in both
parties to reward companies that take early, voluntary
action to reduce greenhouse gases.
By working together, by upholding the value of
stewardship, we can do all these things. So I say to
Congress: This year, instead of wasting precious time
battling over senseless anti-environmental riders, let's get
right to work. Let's use the final year of the 20th century to
launch the greatest era of stewardship our country has ever
known.
11
�One hundred fifty years ago, when the Interior
Department was bom, tens of thousands of brave pioneers
were setting out in search of land on the vast but
unforgiving Americanfrontier.It is easy to understand why
many saw nature primarily as a resource to be exploited and
an obstacle to be overcome.
But today, thanks in great measure to generations of
Department of Interior visionaries like John Wesley Powell,
Harold Ickes, and Rachel Carson, most of us see in nature a
divine, iffragile,gift. I remember precisely where that
became clear to me. It was in the gorgeous region where
Sec. Babbitt grew up. I was on my first visit to the Grand
Canyon, in the summer of 1971. I found a place on a rock
overlooking the canyon where I was all alone.
12
�For two hours I sat down on that rock and I watched the
sunset. And I watched the colors change layer after layer
for two hours. I could have sat there for two days if the sun
had just taken a little longer to set.
That kind of moment is indescribably powerful, almost
like the birth of a child. It's the kind of beauty you just
can't convey in a photograph or a book ~ or in a speech.
You simply need to see it for yourself. And thank God, you
can. Thank God our forebears felt an abiding responsibility
not only to their own generations but to ours. Standing at
the edge of a new century, I am deeply grateful for their
altruism and foresight. I am grateful that they taught us the
enduring value of stewardship.
13
�And I am grateful to all of you here today who are making
this noble cause your life's work. Congratulations on this
momentous milestone. And God bless you all.
# # #
14
�Draft 3/4/99 9:30am
Lowell Weiss
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J . CLINTON
REMARKS AT DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR'S
150TH ANNIVERSARY EVENT
WASHINGTON, DC
March 4,1999
Acknowledge: Sec. Babbitt: a brilliant leader who does not take the concept o ' stewardship
lightly. I know aU cabinet secretaries talk about putting out fires at their agencies, but Sec. Babbitt
actually grabs his gear and puts out realfires~ forest fires -- out west. Former Interi</ Sec. Thomas
Kleppe: EPA Admin. Browner: John Podesta: Dagmar Fertl. Mark Oliver, and all ypg other award
winners; Interior Dept. employees here and around the country. I also want to thank the Great
American Indian Dancers and the many tribal leaders here with us today. As we continue to work
together to improve the quality of life in Indian country, I want to reaffirm my commitment to the
govemment-to-govemment relationship that exWs between my Administration and the 558
federally recognized tribes.
^^CjlOSt^ {
Thank you very much for inviting me to be a small part of this big day. Frankly, you picked
the right guy for the job - I've been benefitting from your good work all my life. I was raised in ^\ ^ \ *)
Hot Springs, the first city in America to contain a National Park, and I spent my first 18 years in a *
I *
state that is more than half covered with pine and hardwood forests. When I graduated from law
school, I went home to the hills of north Arkansas, and I spent some ofthe happiest days of my life
along the Buffalo River ~ America's very first National River. And today, my family and I have
the great honor of living in the most beautiful home under the care of the National Park System. Of
course, our lease is up in 1 year, 10 months, and 16 days ~ but who's counting?
More than any other part of the Federal government, the history of the Interior Department is
the history of America. It is the story of manifest destiny and our great western expansion. It is
story of fertilefieldsrising from arid desert, of a people rising from the depths of the Great
Depression, of a nation marshaling the resources to win two world wars. It is the story of scientific
discovery and restless exploration. It is the story of our country's struggles to expand opportunity
for Indians, the First Americans, as well as aU Americans — as when Harold Ickes invited Marian
Anderson to sing from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial 60 years ago, on Easter of 1939.
Most of all, as Sec. Babbitt has said, it is the story of America's ever-growing will to
conserve and restore our precious natural treasures. It is no secret that in 1849, when this
department was launched with a headquarters staff of 10 and budget of $14,200, it lacked a unifying
purpose. Today, the contrast is remarkable. Under the leadership of Sec. Babbitt, everything this
department does is guided by a single defining principle: stewardship. As wise and dedicated
stewards, you act in the humble recognition that all of us are but brief visitors on this Earth. You
understand that everything we want for our children depends on protecting the forests and streams
and deserts that were here ^»long before we arrived. Today, the "Department of Everything Else"
is ~ and will forever be ~ tl e Department orStewardship. You should be very proud.
And the kind of ste^ /ardship that guides this department reflects your commitment to using a
�skillful touch, not a heavy hand. Together, we are setting firm national goals ~ fragile ecosystems
and fiiture generations demand no less. But now, more than ever before, we aror challenging
communities and the private sector to find the best ways to meet these goajs.J N Q are proving that
environmental stewardship and economic growth are compatible ~ even inseparable - §oals.
This new approach has produced remarkable results. Three years ago, we set out on a
tAjbtS ?
mission to preserve California's Headwaters Forest, the world's largest unprotected stand of oldgrowth redwoods. And just three days ago, we did it. Thanks to the tireless efforts of so many
people here and at your sister agency NOAA, not one of the magnificent trees of Headwaters Forest
will ever be logged. Anyone who has ever strolled through a grove of redwoods ~ a tangle of ferns
at your feet, a living canopy reaching far overhead ~ knows that these ancient forests are as much a
part of our legacy as the world's greatest cathedrals. Thanks to you, the redwoods of Headwaters
are now safe for all time.
We should also be proud that over the past six years we set aside vast, unspoiled areas of the
Mojave Desert, designating three new National Parks. We put a stop to a massive mining operation
that threatened Yellowstone, the world's very first National Park. To protect Utah's stunning redrock canyons, we created the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and completed the
largest land exchange in the continental U.S* And, of course, we are restoring the Florida
Everglades ~ the largest restoration project aver undertaken in our nation's history.
\.U>tf**f'
^
<ne4>uu!#Mi» 7
But we have much more work to do. This year, the last year of the 20th Century, we must
dedicate ourselves to building on these accomplishments and charting a course of stewardship for
the next century.
First, we must preserve more precious lands. I will soon send to Congress a plan to bestow
the highest level of wilderness protection on more than 5 million acres of backcountry lands within
Yellowstone, Glacier, and other National Parks. If Congress approves this request, the roar of
bulldozers and chain saws will never again drown out the call of the wild.
I am also proposing an unprecedented $1 billion Lands Legacy Initiative. This initiative will
allow us to continue your efforts to protect natural and historic lands across the country ~ such as
Civil War battlefields, remote stretches of the historic Lewis and Clark Trail, and an additional
450,000 acres in and around Mojave and Joshua Tree National Parks.
^als^wilTallow us to meet the stewardship challenges of a new century. It's no longer -^d
enough for our nation to preserve its grandest natural wonders. As communities continue to grow
and expand, it has become every bit as important to preserve the small but sacred green and open
spaces closer to home. So my Lands Legacy Initiative will also help communities protect meadows
and seashores where children can play ... streams where sportsmen and -women can fish ...
agricultural lands where family farmers produce the fresh harvests that we often take for granted.
We believe this Lands Legacy Initiative must be a permanent legacy. So today, I pledge to
work with Congress to create, for the first time ever, a guaranteed fundJor protectingand restoring
priceless lands across America. There are many good legislative idea^^^acA^m^mfS^oaf. We
believe that any solution must provide at least $1 billion annually, with at least half dedicated to
�helping communities protect local green spaces. It also must recognize the unique environmental
challenges of coastal states, without creating any new incentives for offshore oil drilling. Working
together, we can ensure that not only our generation, but each generation to come, will have the
resources to leave an even better land for those who follow.
Second, as we help preserve more open spaces, we have a great opportunity to help create more livable communities. The Vice President and I have proposed record funding for public
transit and a powerful new tool called Better America Bonds. These bonds will enable communities
to raise nearly $10 billion and help them thrive in ways that ensure a high quality of life and strong,
sustainable economic growth.
Third, we must continue making progress in cleaning our rivers, lakes, and coastal waters. I
have proposed a dramatic increase in funding to help clean up the 4fi%^f our waterways that are
still too polluted for fishing and swimming. And to ensure that we ccmplete the job, I call on
Congress to reauthorize and strengthen the Clean Water Act.
1 ^e^V cc <SW\jt ?
Fourth, we must do more to meet our most profound environmental challenge ~ global
warming. I have proposed a Clean AkPactnership Fund to help communities reduce both
greenhouse pollution and smog, ^wl tax and research incentives to spur clean-energy technologies.
And I want to work with members of Congress in both parties to reward companies that take early,
voluntary action to reduce greenhoA^ gases^"^
^
^
ijUtirna MMi I puun**LA
CJUAMC
By working together, we can do all these things. So I say to Congress: This year, instead of
wasting precious time battling over senseless anti-environmental riders, let's get right to work.
Let's use the fmal year of the 20th century to launch the greatest era of stewardship our country has
ever known.
One hundred fifty years ago, when the Interior Department was bom, tens of thousands of
brave pioneers were setting out in search of land on the vast but unforgiving American frontier. It is
easy to understand why many saw nature primarily as a resource to be exploited and an obstacle to
be overcome.
But today, thanks in great measure to generations of Department of Interior visionaries like
John Wesley Powell. Harold Ickes. and Rachel Carson, most of us see in nature a divine, if fragile,
gift. I remember precisely where that became clear to me. It wao in the? gurgiuus region where Set.
Babbill gnw np. I was on my first visit to the Grand Canyon, in the summer of 1971. I fomid a
place on a rock overlooking the canyon where I was all alone. For two hours I sat and^l^down
on that rock andjCwatched the sunset. JfrMfl watched the colors change layer after layer for two
hours. I could have sat there for two days if the sun had iusttakq^a little longer to set.
That kind of moment is ifldcacriklEk powerful, almost like the birth of a cjiild. It's the kind
of beauty you just can't convey'in dphotograph or a book ~ or in a speech. You simply need to see
it for yourself. And thank God, yod can. Thank God our forebears felt an-abidiflg responsibility not
only to their own generations bu^o ours. Standing at the edge of a new centuiw, I am deeply
grateful for their altruism and foresight. I am grateful that they taught us the enduring value of
stewardship. And I am gratefiy to all of you here today who are making this no\le cause your life's
�T
work. Congratulations on this momentous milestone. And God bless you all.
###
�1
^
e
Draft 3/3/99 7:30pm
Lowell Weiss
^ ^
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
REMARKS AT DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR*;
^
L {y(S>\
150TH ANNIVERSARY EVENT
^
WASHINGTON, DC
\f
March 4,1999
r
7
Acknowledge: Sec. Babbitt: a brilliant leader who does not take the concept of stewardship
lightly. I know aU cabinet secretaries talk about putting out fires at their agencies, but Sec. Babbitt
actually grabs his gear and puts out real fires - forest fires ~ out west. Former Interior Sec. Thomas
Kleppe: EPA Admin. Browner: John Podesta: Dagmar Fertl. Mark Oliver, and all your other award
winners; Interior Dept. employees here and around the country. I also want to thank the Great
American Indian Dancers and the many tribal leaders here with us today. As we continue to work
together to improve the quality of life in Indian country, I want to reaffirm my commitment to the
govemment-to-govemment relationship that exists between my Administration and the 558
federally recognized tribes.
Thank you very much for inviting me to be a small part of this big day. Frankly, you picked
the right guy for the job ~ I've been benefitting from your good work all my life. I was raised in
Hot Springs, the first city in America to contain a National Park, and I spent my first 18 years in a
state that is more than half covered with pine and hardwood forests. When I graduated from law
school, I went home to the hills of north Arkansas, and I spent some of the happiest days of my life
along the Buffalo River ~ America's very first National River. And today, my family and I have
the great honor of living in the most beautiful home under the care of the National Park System. Of
course, our lease is up in 1 year, 10 months, and 16 days ~ but who's counting?
More than any other part of the Federal government, the history of the Interior Department is
the history of America. It is the story of manifest destiny and our great western expansion. It is
story of fertilefieldsrising from arid desert, of a people rising from the depths of the Great
Depression, of a nation marshaling the resources to win two world wars. It is the story of scientific
discovery and restless exploration. It is the story of our country's struggles to expand opportunity
for Indians, the First Americans, as well as all Americans ~ as when Harold Ickes invited Marian
Anderson to sing from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial 60 years ago, on Easter of 1939.
Most of all, as Sec. Babbitt has said, it is the story of America's ever-growing will to
conserve and restore our precious^atural resources) It is no secret that in 1849, when this
department was launched with a headquarters staff of 10 and budget of $14,200, it lacked a unifying
purpose. Today, the contrast is remarkable. Under the leadership of Sec. Babbitt, everything this
department does is guided by a single defining principle: stewardship. As wise and dedicated
stewards, you act in the humble recognition that all of us are but brief visitors on this Earth. You
understand that everything we want for our children depends on protecting the forests and streams
and deserts and mountain peaks shaped by the hand of God so long before we arrived. Today, the
"Department of Everything Else" is - and will forever be - the Department of Stewardship. You
should be very proud.
�And the kind of wise stewardship that guides this department reflects your commitment to
using a skillful touch, not a heavy hand. Together, we are setting firm national goals - fragile
ecosystems and future generations demand no less. But now, more than ever before, we are
challenging communities and the private sector to find the best ways to meet these goals. With
common sense and uncommon flexibility, we are proving that environmental stewardship and
economic growth are compatible - even inseparable ~ goals.
This new approach has produced remarkable results. Three years ago, we set out on a
^ ,
mission to preserve California's Headwaters Forest, the world's largest unprotected stand of oldft'
growth redwoods. And just three days ago, we did it. Thanks to the tireless efforts David Hayes
and so many other people here and at your sister agency NOAA, not one of the magnificent trees of
Headwaters Forest will ever be logged. Anyone who has ever strolled through a grove of redwoods
- a tangle of ferns at your feet, a living canopy reaching far overhead - knows that these ancient
forests are as much a part of our legacy as the world's greatest cathedrals. Thanks to you, the
redwoods of Headwaters are now safe for all time.
On this day of celebration, we should also be proud that over the past six years we set aside
vast, unspoiled areas of the Mojave Desert of California, designating three new National Parks. We
put a stop to a massive mining operation that threatened our pristine Yellowstone, the world's very
first National Park. To protect Utah's stunning red-rock canyons, we created the Grand StaircaseEscalante National Monument and completed the largest land exchange in the continental U.S.
And, of course, we are restoring the Florida Everglades ~ the most ambitious restoration project
ever undertaken in our nation's history.
But we all know we have much more work to do. That is why, in my State of the Union
Address, I proposed my unprecedented $1 billion Lands Legacy Initiative. This represents the
largest one-year investment in preserving America's precious lands since President Theodore
Roosevelt set the Interior Department on a path of stewardship a century ago. It will allow us to
continue your efforts to protect natural and historic lands across the country ~ such as Civil War
battlefields, remote stretches of the historic Lewis and Clark Trail, and an additional 450,000 acres
in and around Mojave and Joshua Tree National Parks.
It will also allow us to meet the stewardship challenges of a new century. We know it's no
longer enough for our nation to preserve its grandest natural wonders. As communities continue to
grow and expand, it has become every bit as important to preserve the small but sacred green and
open spaces closer to home. So my Lands Legacy Initiative will also help communities protect
meadows and seashores where children can play ... streams where sportsmen and -women can fish
... agricultural lands where family farmers produce thefreshharvests that we often take for granted.
It will be entirely voluntary, with no green mandates from Washington and no red tape. Instead, we
will give communities the tools they need to realize their own plans and enhance their residents'
quality of life.
We believe this Lands Legacy Initiative must be a permanent legacy. So today, I pledge to
work with Congress to create, for the first time ever, a guaranteed fund for protecting and restoring
priceless lands across America. There are many good legislative ideas for achieving this goal. We
believe that any solution must provide at least $1 billion annually, with at least half dedicated to
l A < ;
�helping communities protect local green spaces. It also must recognize the unique environmental
challenges of coastal states, without creating any new incentives for offshore oil drilling. Working
together, we can ensure that not only our generation, but each generation to come, will have the
resources to leave an even better land for those who follow.
[In the coming year, we can also work together to help the people of the Pacific Northwest
bring back the salmon that are such a vital part of the region's history and culture. We can take new
steps to clean up our rivers and lakes. And we can act to head off the threat of global warming. I
say to Congress: This year, instead of wasting precious time battling over senseless antienvironmental riders, let's get right to work. Let's quickly find common ground. Let's make the
kind of progress on the environment that only bipartisanship can produce.]
One hundred fifty years ago, when the Interior Department was bom, tens of thousands of
brave pioneers were setting out in search of land on the vast but unforgiving American frontier. It is
easy to understand why many saw nature primarily as a resource to be exploited and an obstacle to
be overcome.
But today, thanks in great measure to generations of Department of Interior visionaries like
John Wesley Powell. Harold Ickes. and Rachel Carson, most of us see in nature a divine, if fragile,
gift. I remember precisely where that became clear to me. It was in the gorgeous region where Sec.
Babbitt grew up. I was on my first visit to the Grand Canyon, in the summer of 1971. I found a
place on a rock overlooking the canyon where I was all alone. For two hours I sat and I lay down
on that rock and I watched the sunset. And I watched the colors change layer after layer for two
hours. I could have sat there for two days if the sun had just taken a little longer to set.
That kind of moment is indescribably powerful, almost like the birth of a child. It's the kind
of beauty you just can't convey in a photograph or a book ~ or in a speech. You simply need to see
it for yourself. And thank God, you can. Thank God our forebears felt an abiding responsibility not
only to their own generations but to ours. Standing at the edge of a new century, I am deeply
grateful for their altruism and foresight. I am grateful that they taught us the enduring value of
stewardship. And I am grateful to all of you here today who are making this noble cause your life's
work. Congratulations on this momentous milestone. And God bless you all.
###
^/ja/v £
3
�molly mcusic @ ios.doi.gov
03/03/99 12:16:35 PM
Record Type:
To:
Record
Lowell A. Weiss/WHO/EOP
cc:
Subject: Re: rough draft
Wonderful speech. The ending is especially powerful. I had only a
couple thoughts and one suggested change.
1. I t l j m l f t h e paragraph on smart development by working w i t h
cpfrtmunities for win-wins is important. If you wanted an example the
AC? program under the ESA is the Secy's favorite.
2. I a s j u m g ' y o u have checked out the firefighter story. I had heard
h e X t j h t s fires and seen his equipment but I can't say I know it
firsthand.
3. WbtCffTn general leads me to — I am sure this is old news but
^ m i e Workman at 2 0 8 3 1 7 1 is the Secy's speechwriter and would know
best whether this is consistent w i t h our message.
4 . I see w h y you wanted to include the paragraph about DOI helping all
americans and the story about Ickes is a great part of our history.
Just be sensitive to our recent trouble over Indian trust funds and
there is certainly some sentiment that DOI's 150 year history on the
First Americans is a pretty sorry one.
5. In the accomplishment paragraph it is more accurate to say that we
protectedLJlahJ^roated the Grand Staircase Escalante National
Moj^tmSnt and completed the largest state and federal land exchange in
i e history of the continental United States." If that is too long
you should probably drop the land exchange and keep the Monument.
That is one of Clinton's legacies and it was an amazing achieivement
- ^ e j ^ c L J a i g e & t ^ Q n s e r v a t i o j - ^ r j e a J a J h f i J J L S . behindJCgNowstone.
"The troulbe w i t h the Louisiana Purchase comparison (which I like"
myself but has been disputed internally) is that it is not strictly
comparable. The President shouldn't take the risk of inaccuracy on
this.5
"
1
Great job.
Reply Separator
Subject: rough draft
Author: <Lowell_A._Weiss@who.eop.gov > at "internet
�David A. Bernell
03/03/99 07:00:40 PM
Record Type:
To:
Record
Lowell A. Weiss/WHO/EOP
cc:
Subject: Re: draft of potus interior remarks
If these are not too late, here are OMB's comments. The first one is the most serious one, because
it involves an inaccuracy. The rest are a bit more stylistic and less important.
Thanks.
Forwarded by David A. Bernell/OMB/EOP on 03/03/99 06:54 PM
J C. Crutchfield
i j ^ F 03/03/99 04:28:29 P
M
Record Type:
To:
Record
Elwood Holstein/OMB/EOP@EOP, Linda Ricci/OMB/EOP@EOP, David A. Bernell/OMB/EOP@EOP
cc:
Ronald M. Cogswell/OMB/EOP@EOP, Janet E. lrwin/OMB/EOP@EOP, Gary C.
Reisner/OMB/EOP@EOP, Christine L. Nolin/OMB/EOP@EOP
Subject: Re: draft of potus interior remarks
Below are NRD comments on the POTUS remarks, as cleared by Ron.
1) Recommend revising references to Hot Springs and Buffalo. The first may be technically
accurate, but it's highly misleading because many cities have National Park System units. Better to
cite it as first (est. 1832). The second appears to be inaccurate (Buffalo authorized in 1972; Ozark
National River authorized in 1964.)
Thank you very much for inviting me to be a small part of this big day. Frankly, you picked
the right guy for the job; I've been benefitting from your good work all my life. I was raised
in Hot Springs, the ©nlj' first city in America that contains to contain a National Park, and
spent all of my first 18 years in a state that is more than half covered with pine and hardwood
forests. When I graduated from law school, I went home to the hills of north Arkansas, and I
spent some of the happiest days of my life along the Buffalo River — one of America's very
first National Rivers. And today, my family and I have the great honor of living in one of the
most beautiful units of the National Park System. Of course, our lease is up in 1 year, 10
months, and 16 days - but who's counting?
2) More accurate to reference 1849, instead of 150 years ago, as the department was established
3/3/1849, but the first budget was not "launched" until 12/1849.
�Most of all, as Sec. Babbitt has said, it is the story of America's ever-growing will to
preserve, conserve, and restore lands shaped by the hand of God over hundreds of millions of
years and pass them on to future generations healthy and whole. One hundred fifty years ago
In 1849 -- when this department was launched with a staff of 10 and a budget of $14,200 - it
lacked a unifying purpose.
3) Suggested edit to include the reference to 150 years.
On this day of celebration when we celebrate the Department's 150th anniversary, we
should also be proud that we set aside vast, unspoiled areas of the Mojave Desert of
California,
4) Key difference between Lands Legacy and other proposals in Congress.
But we all know, we have much more work to do. That is why, in my State of the Union
Address, I proposed a $1 billion Lands Legacy Initiative — the largest one-year investment in
preserving America's precious lands since President Theodore Roosevelt set the Interior
Department on a path of stewardship nearly a century ago, and accomplished within a
balanced budget.
5) Suggested addition to support point.
So my Lands Legacy Initiative will also help communities acquire new lands for urban and
suburban parks and set aside new wetland, coastal, and wildlife preserves. There will be no
green mandates or requirements from Washington and will be entirely voluntary, with no
not an inch of red tape. Instead, the idea is to give communities all the tools they need to
realize their own conservation plans and to enhance our families' day-to-day quality of life.
�Draft 3/3/99 5:00pm
Lowell Weiss
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
REMARKS AT DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR'S
150TH ANNIVERSARY EVENT
WASHINGTON, DC
March 4,1999
Acknowledge: Sec. Babbitt: a brilliant leader who does not take the concept of stewardship
lightly. I know all cabinet secretaries talk about putting out fires at their agencies. Sec. Babbitt
actually grabs his yellow firif gear and hops on a plane to fight •teal forest fires out west.
f>tvt^ put- rgaJ-Hreo
jl_
Former Interior Secretary Thomas Kleppe: EPA Admin._Brownen Sen. Kennedy: John
Podesta: Tribal leaders; Dagmar Fertl. Richard Sanger, and all the other award winners. Interior
Department employees here and around the country.
Thank you very much for inviting me to be a small^art of this big day. Frankly, you picked
the right guy for the job - I've been benefitting from your good work all my life. I was raised in
Hot Springs, the only city in America that contains a National Park, and spent all of my first 18
years in a state that is more than half covered with pine and hardwood forests. When I graduated
from law school, I went home to the hills of north Arkansas, and I spent some of the happiest days
of my life along the Buffalo River ~ America's very first National River. And today, my family
and 1 have the great honor of living in the most beautiful home under the care of the National Park
System. Of course, our lease is up in 1 year, 10 months, and 16 days ~ but who's counting?
More than any other part ofthe Federal government, the history ofthe Interior Department is
the history of America. It is the story of manifest destiny and our great western expansion. It is
story of fertile fields rising from the desert, of a people rising from the depths of the Great
^ Depression, of a nation marshaling the resources to win two world wars. It is the story of scientific
**pM (!^' discovery and restless exploration throughout the world and even ~ thanks to your work mapping
^ J j j B A ? h planets ~ throughout the solar system. It is the story of our country's struggles to expand ^ " " I ( V j / )
VPx^f
opportunity for Indians, the First Americans, as well as all Americans ~ as when Harold Ickes
\ t**^
^e)$^\$/- i i d Marian Anderson to sing from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial 60 years ago, on Easter of 1 ^ f j f
x
0
o t
e r
n v
t e
.3.
99
JJ^JJ
| f t U
f >r&
Most ofall. as Sec. Babbitt has said, it is the story of America's ever-growing will to
"»^\X "
•^U^ Cjreserve, conserve, and restore lands shaped by the hand of God over hundreds of millions of years
^M^
" V ^ ' ^ f e ^ pass themon to future generations healthy and whole. One hundred fifty years ago, when this
y j i w t f ^ department was launchetLjvith a headquarters staff of 10 and budget of $14,200, it lacked a unifying
purpose. Today, the(contrast)is remarkable. Under the leadership of Sec. Babbitt, everything this
•jv .
^r^epartment does is gulBed 6y a single defining principle: stewardship. As wise and dedicated
stewards, you act in the humble recognition that all of us are but brief visitors on this Earth. You
fcib
understand that everything we want for our children depends on protecting the forests and streams
"T^. • and deserts and wetlands that were here so long before we arrived. Today, the "Department of
?
j ^ y j j j c Everything Else" is - and will forever be ~ the Department of Stewardship. You should be very
1
roud
iwlle^ P -
�The kind of wise stewardship that guides this department rpfWtr nnt jmt a rnmmitmpnt tn.
^^-pfDtecting prerions ftfttmal lesumcCT^uHdstrff 6«nmitmeBH€rmffl§ a skillful toucl^an^not a
heavy hand. Together, we are setting firm national goals ~
fragile ecosystems and future
generations demand no less. But now, more than ever before, we are challenging communities and
the private sector to find the best ways to meet these goals. With common^sense anduncommon
flexibility wo are proving the pessimists wrongTwe are proving that environmental stewardship
and ecofTomic growth are compatible - even inseparable — g o a I s ^ ^ » . j ^ ^ - f , ^
i£^7|
This new approach has produced remarkable results. Three years ago, we set out on a
mission to preserve California's Headwaters Forest, the world's largest unprotected stand of oldgrowth redwoods. And just three days ago, we did it. Thmiks^OLthe tireless efforts David Hayes
and so many other people here and at your sister agenc>(NOA^/not one of the magnificent trees of
Headwaters Forest will ever be logged. Anyone who haseverstrolled through a grove of redwoods
\t^L — a tangle of ferns at your feet, a living canopy rear.hing far nWheiad - knows that these ancient
vi*ul forests are as much a part of our legacy as the world's greatestWhedrals. Thanks to you,
'fe^.
-milkmiid-old cathcdrab of Headwatero^are safe for all time. V , v .
'
On this day of celebration, we should also be proud that we set aside vast, unspoiled areas of
the Mojave Desert of California, designating three new National Parks. We put a stop to a massive
mining operation that threatened our pristine Yellowstone, the world's very first National Park. To
protect Utah's stunning red-rock canyons, we created the Grand Staircase-Escalante National
Monument andcflgopleted the largest land exchange in Interior's history. And, of course, we are
renewing the/^acred^lorida Everglades — the most ambitious restoration project ever undertaken in
our nation's history^
ry^t-lhA. rtf^kk- fft-nP, -^CctcH^
But we all know, we have much more work to do. That is why, in my State of the Union
Address, I proposed a $1 billion Lands Legacy Initiative ~ the largest one-year investment in
preserving America's precious lands since President Theodore Roosevelt aatlEe^frterior
\ .^sf.
Department en a path of atewardohi^nearly a century ago.
f tf^ttej. )
/
J-fiykfe^uj..
This initiative will allow us to continue your efforts to protect natural and historic lands
across the country ~ such as Civil War battlefields, remote stretches of the historic Lewis and Clark
Trail, and an additional 450,000 acres in and around Mojave and Joshua Tree National Parks.
It will also allow us to meet the stewardship challenges of a new century. We know it's no
longer enough for our nation to preserve its grandest natural wonders. As commumtiescontinuejo^ - f t r ^
grow and expand, it has become every bit as important to preserve the small but ^acre^reen and
h£^c
open spaces closer to home ~ meadows and playgrounds and seashores where chilclren can play ...
streams where sportsmen and -women can fish ... agricultural lands where family farmers produce
thefreshharvests that we often take for granted.
So my Lands Legacy Initiative will also help communities acquire new lands for urban and
suburban parks and set aside new wetland, coastal, and wildlife preserves. There will be no green
mandates from Washington and not an inch of red tape. Instead, the idea is to give communities all
the tools they need to realize their own conservation plans and to enhance our families' day-to-day
quality of life.
�We believe this Lands Legacy Initiative must be a permanent legacy. So today, I pledge to
work with Congress to create, for the first time ever, a guaranteed fund for protecting and restoring
priceless lands across America. There are many good legislative ideas for achieving this goal. We
believe that any solution must provide at least $1 billion annually, with about half dedicated to
helping communities protect local green spaces. It also must recognize the unique environmental
challenges of coastal states, without creating any new incentives for offshore oil drilling.
Let's make this lasting gift to the new century. Let's ensure that not only our generation, but each
generation to come, will have the resources to leave thirteiKpan even better land for those who
follow.
A^IB. Ut+
One hundred fifty years ago, brave pioneers were crossing a continent in search of & parcel
of land^gn tfre vast but unforgivingfrontier*It is easy to understand why, in those days, many
AmeFiCHfissaw nature primarily as a resource to be exploited and an obstacle to be overcome.
h i^frf
g
j y
j g t
to generations of Department of Interior visionaries like
John Wesley Powell. Harold Ickes. and Rachel Carson, most of us see in nature a divine, i f fragile,
gift. I remember precisely where that became clear to me. It was on my first visit to the gorgeous
region where Sec. Babbitt grew up. It was the summer of 1971, on my first visit to the Grand
Canyon. I found a place on a rock overlooking the canyon where I was all alone. For two hours I
sat and I lay down on that rock and I watched the sunset. And I watched the colors change layer
after layer after layeTfor two hours. I could have sat there for two days if the sun had just taken a ^ iT^T^
little longer to set.
/ ^ " " ' ^
u t t 0 (
a
j
n
rea
m e a s u r e
That kind of moment is indescribably powemil, almost like the birth of a child. It's the kind
of beauty you just can't convey in a book ~ or a^peecji. You simply need to see it for yourself.
And thank God, you can. Thank GotPour forebears felt an abiding responsibility not only to their
own generations but to ours. Standing at the edge of a new century, I am deeply grateful for their
altruism and foresight. I am grateful that they taught us the enduring value of stewardship. And I
am grateful to all of you here today who are making this noble cause your life's work.
Congratulations on this momentous milestone. And God bless you all.
###
ve^
f
�COMMENTS FOR POTUS SPEECH AT INTERIOR
It is fitting that many of our tribal leaders have joined us today for this celebration. As we
continue to work together to improve quality of life in Indian country, I want to reaffirm my
commitment to the government to government relationship that exists between my administration
and the 558 federally recognized tribes. I am determined that we will act on the challenges facing
the First Americans as we go in to the next Millenium.
Lowell: POTUS has said many times that he really wants to make a difference for these people
before he leaves office, and the govt. To govt. Stuff sounds arcane, but it is the MOST important
thing he can say to the tribes.
�Draft 3/3/99 4:20pm
Lowell Weiss
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
REMARKS AT DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR'S
150TH ANNIVERSARY EVENT
WASHINGTON, DC
March 4,1999
Acknowledge: Sec. Babbitt: a brilliant leader who does not take the concept of stewardship
lightly. I know all cabinet secretaries talk about putting out fires at their agencies. Sec. Babbitt
actually grabs his yellow fire gear and hops on a plane to fight rgal forest fires out west.
Former Interior Secretary Thomas Kleppe: EPA Admin. Browner; Sen. Kennedy: John
Podesta: Tribal leaders; Dagmar Fertl. Richard Sanger, and all the other award winners. Interior
Department employees here and around the country.
Thank you very much for inviting me to be a small part of this big day. Frankly, you picked
the right guy for the job ~ I've been benefitting from your good work all my life. I was raised in
Hot Springs, the only city in America that contains a National Park, and spent all of my first 18
years in a state that is more than half covered with pine and hardwood forests. When I graduated
from law school, I went home to the hills of north Arkansas, and I spent some of the happiest days
of my life along the Buffalo River ~ America's very first National River. And today, my family
and I have the great honor of living in the most beautiful home under the care of the National Park
System. Of course, our lease is up in 1 year, 10 months, and 16 days - but who's counting?
More than any other part of the Federal government, the history of the Interior Department is
the history of America. It is the story of manifest destiny and our great western expansion. It is
story of fertile fields rising from the desert, of a people rising from the depths of the Great
Depression, of a nation marshaling the resources to win two world wars. It is the story of scientific
discovery and restless exploration throughout the world and even ~ thanks to your work mapping
other planets ~ throughout the solar system. It is the story of our country's struggles to expand
opportunity for Indians, the First Americans, as well as all Americans ~ as when Harold Ickes
invited Marian Anderson to sing from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial 60 years ago, on Easter of
1939.
Most of all, as Sec. Babbitt has said, it is the story of America's ever-growing will to
preserve, conserve, and restore lands shaped by the hand of God over hundreds of millions of years
and pass them on to future generations healthy and whole. One hundred fifty years ago, when this
department was launched with a headquarters staff of 10 and budget of $14,200, it lacked a unifying
purpose. Today, the contrast is remarkable. Under the leadership of Sec. Babbitt, everything this
department does is guided by a single defining principle: stewardship. As wise and dedicated
stewards, you act in the humble recognition that all of us are but brief visitors on this Earth. You
understand that everything we want for our children depends on protecting the forests and streams
and deserts and wetlands that were here so long before we arrived. Today, the "Department of
Everything Else" is ~ and will forever be ~ the Department of Stewardship. You should be very
proud.
�The kind of wise stewardship that guides this department reflects not just a commitment to
protecting precious natural resources but also a commitment to using a skillful touch and not a
heavy hand. Together, we are setting firm national goals - and fragile ecosystems and future
generations demand no less. But now, more than ever before, we are challenging communities and
the private sector to find the best ways to meet these goals. With common-sense and uncommon
flexibility, we are proving the pessimists wrong: we are proving that environmental stewardship
and economic growth are compatible - even inseparable ~ goals.
This new approach has produced remarkable results. Three years ago, we set out on a
mission to preserve California's Headwaters Forest, the world's largest unprotected stand of oldgrowth redwoods. And just three days ago, we did it. Thanks to the tireless efforts David Hayes
and so many other people here and at your sister agency NOAA, not one of the magnificent trees of
Headwaters Forest will ever be logged. Anyone who has ever strolled through a grove of redwoods
~ a tangle of ferns at your feet, a living canopy reaching far overhead ~ knows that these ancient
forests are as much a part of our legacy as the world's greatest cathedrals. Thanks to you, the
millennia-old cathedrals of Headwaters are safe for all time.
On this day of celebration, we should also be proud that we set aside vast, unspoiled areas of
the Mojave Desert of California, designating three new National Parks. We put a stop to a massive
mining operation that threatened our pristine Yellowstone, the world's very first National Park. To
protect Utah's stunning red-rock canyons, we created the Grand Staircase-Escalante National
Monument and completed the largest land exchange in the continental U.S. since the Louisiana
Purchase. And, of course, we are renewing the sacred Florida Everglades - the most ambitious
restoration project ever undertaken in our nation's history.
But we all know, we have much more work to do. That is why, in my State of the Union
Address, I proposed a $1 billion Lands Legacy Initiative ~ the largest one-year investment in
preserving America's precious lands since President Theodore Roosevelt set the Interior
Department on a path of stewardship nearly a century ago.
This initiative will allow us to continue your efforts to protect natural and historic lands
across the country - such as Civil War battlefields, remote stretches of the historic Lewis and Clark
Trail, and an additional 450,000 acres in and around Mojave and Joshua Tree National Parks.
It will also allow us to meet the stewardship challenges of a new century. We know it's no
longer enough for our nation to preserve its grandest natural wonders. As communities continue to
grow and expand, it has become every bit as important to preserve the small but sacred green and
open spaces closer to home ~ meadows and playgrounds and seashores where children can play ...
streams where sportsmen and -women can fish ... agricultural lands where family farmers produce
thefreshharvests that we often take for granted.
So my Lands Legacy Initiative will also help communities acquire new lands for urban and
suburban parks and set aside new wetland, coastal, and wildlife preserves. There will be no green
mandates from Washington and not an inch of red tape. Instead, the idea is to give communities all
the tools they need to realize their own conservation plans and to enhance our families' day-to-day
quality of life.
�We believe this Lands Legacy Initiative must be a permanent legacy. So today, I pledge to
work with Congress to create, for the first time ever, a guaranteed fund for protecting and restoring
priceless lands across America. There are many good legislative ideas for achieving this goal. We
believe that any solution must provide at least $1 billion annually, with about half dedicated to
helping communities protect local green spaces. It also must recognize the unique environmental
challenges of coastal states, without creating any new incentives for offshore oil drilling.
Let's make this lasting gift to the new century. Let's ensure that not only our generation, but each
generation to come, will have the resources to leave this land an even better land for those who
follow.
One hundred fifty years ago when the Interior Department was bom, brave pioneers were
traversing a continent in covered wagons in search of a parcel of land on the vast but unforgiving
frontier. It is easy to understand why, in those days, many Americans saw nature primarily as a
resource to be exploited and an obstacle to be overcome.
But today, thanks in great measure to generations of Department of Interior visionaries like
John Wesley Powell. Harold Ickes. and Rachel Carson, most of us see in nature a divine, if fragile,
gift. I remember precisely where that became clear to me. It was on my first visit to the gorgeous
region where Sec. Babbitt grew up. It was the summer of 1971, on my first visit to the Grand
Canyon. I found a place on a rock overlooking the canyon, with its infinite folds of sandstone and
shale, where I was all alone. For two hours I sat and I lay down on that rock and I watched the
sunset. And I watched the colors change layer after layer after layer for two hours. I could have sat
there for two days if the sun had just taken a little longer to set.
That kind of moment is indescribably powerful, almost like the birth of a child. It's the kind
of beauty you just can't convey in a book ~ or a speech. You simply need to see it for yourself.
And thank God, you can. Thank God our forebears felt an abiding responsibility not only to their
own generations but to ours. Standing at the edge of a new century, staring out into the infinite
folds of our future, I am deeply grateful for their altruism and foresight. I am grateful that they
taught us the enduring value of stewardship. And I am grateful to all of you here today who are
making this noble cause your life's work. Congratulations on this momentous milestone. And God
bless you all.
###
�Draft 3/3/99 2:00pm
Lowell Weiss
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
REMARKS AT DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR'S
150TH ANNIVERSARY EVENT
WASHINGTON, DC
March 4,1999
Acknowledge: Sec. Babbitt: a brilliant leader who does not take the concept of stewardship
lightly. I know all cabinet secretaries talk about putting out fires at their agencies. Sec. Babbitt ptrts^—^ - them all tn shamf when Jie grabs hi^orange fire suit and hops on a plane to fight real forest fires out
west. Other acknowledgments TK.
Thank you very much for inviting me to be a small part of this big day. Frankly, you picked
the right guy for the job; I've been benefitting from your good work all my life. I was raised in Hot
Springs, the only city in America that contains a National Park, and spent all of my first 18 years in
a state that is more than half covered with pine and hardwood forests. When I graduated from law
school, I went home to the hills of north Arkansas, and I spent some of the happiest days of my life
along the Buffalo River - America's very first National River. And today, my family and I have
the great honor of living in one of the most beautiful units of the National Park System. Of course,
our lease is up in 1 year, 10 months, and 16 days ~ but who's counting?
More than any other part of the Federal government, the history of the Interior Department is
the history of America. It is the story of manifest destiny and our great western expansion. It is
story of fertile fields rising from the desert, of a people rising from the depths of the Great
Depression, of a nation marshaling the resources to win two world wars. It is the story of scientific
discovery and restless exploration throughout the world and even ~ thanks to your work mapping
other planets - throughout the solar system. It is the story of our country's struggles to expand
opportunity for our First Americans, African-Americans, and all Americans ~ as when Harold Ickes
invited Marian Anderson to sing from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial 60 years ago, in April of
1939.
Most of all, as Sec. Babbitt has said, it is the story of America's ever-growing will to
preserve, conserve, and restore lands shaped by the hand of God over hundreds of millions of years
and pass them on to future generations healthy and whole. One hundred fifty years ago ~ when this
department was launched with a staff of 10 and a budget of $14,200 - it lacked a unifying purpose.
Today, the contrast is remarkable. Under the leadership of Sec. Babbitt, everything this department
does is guided by a single defining j^dple^jstewardship. As wise and dedicated stewards, you act
in the humble recognition that(^ffof us ar^but brief visitors on this Earth. You understand that
everything we want for our children depends on protecting the forests and streams and deserts and
wetlands that were herejpotong before we arrived. Today, the "Department of Everything Else" is - and will forever be ~ the Department of Stewardship. You should be very proud.
<^gfi3he kind of wise stewardship that guides this department reflects not just a commitment
to protecting precious natural resources but also a commitment to using a skillful touch and not a
heavy hand. Together, we are setting firm national goals ~ andfragileecosystems and future
/fc^^y
�generations demand no less. But now, more than ever before, we are challenging communities and
the private sector to find the best ways to meet these goals. With common-sense and uncommon
flexibility, we are proving the pessimists wrong: we are proving that environmental stewardship
and economic growth are compatible — even inseparable ~ goals.
This new approach has produced remarkable results. Three years ago, we set out on a
mission to preserve California's Headwaters Forest, the world's largest unprotected stand of oldgrowth redwoods. And just three days ago, we did it. Thanks to the tireless efforts of many people
here and at your sister agency NOAA, not one of the magnificent trees of Headwaters Forest will
ever be logged. Anyone who has ever strolled through a grove of redwoods - a tangle of ferns at
your feet, aJiyingjanopy reaching-faroveri^eatLr^Jcnows that these ancient forests are as much a
part of our legacy as the world's greatest cathedralsA Thanks to you, the millennia-old cathedrals of
lead waters are safe foraiTTime.
=r^=^—^W^/rf
<T*»/*r£ <«• CtiteCc
-fy^r*
On this day of celebration, we should also be proud that we set aside vast, unspoiled areas of
the Mojave Desert of California, designating three new National Parks. We put a stop to a massive
mining operation that threatened our pristine Yellowstone, the world's very first National Park. To
protect Utah's stunning red-rock canyons, we created the Grand Staircase-Escalante National
Monument and completed the largest land exchange in the continental U.S. since the Louisiana
Purchase. And, of course, we are renewing the sacred Florida Everglades — the most ambitious
restoration project ever undertaken in our nation's history.
But we all know, we have much more work to do. That is why, in my State of the Union
Address, I proposed a $1 billion Lands Legacy Initiative - the largest one-year investment in
preserving America's precious lands since President Theodore Roosevelt set the Interior
Department on a path of stewardship nearly a century ago.
This initiative will allow us to continue your efforts to protect natural and historic lands
across the country ~ such as Civil War battlefields, remote stretches of the historic Lewis and Clark
Trail, and an additional 450,000 acres in and around Mojave and Joshua Tree National Parks.
It will also allow us to meet the stewardship challenges of a new century. We know it's no
longer enough for our nation to preserve its grandest natural wonders. As communities continue to
grow and expand, it has become every bit as important to preserve the small but sacred green and
open spaces closer to home ~ meadows and seashores where children can play ... streams where
sportsmen and -women can fish ... agricultural lands where family farmers produce the fresh
harvests that we often take for granted.
So my Lands Legacy Initiative will also help communities acquire new4ands^o^urbaiiMid
subufbarTpaacrand-setaside^
preserves. (Therg^jjLbe^Qjre^r^ ^ ' " / ^
landatesfrom Washington and not an inch of redtapeylnstead, the idea is togive communities-alt
the toolslhey need to fealtz^ffieiFo^^onservatiorrplans and to enhance our families' day-to-day
quality of life.
1
We believe this Lands Legacy Initiative must be a permanent legacy. So today, I pledge to
work with Congress to create, for the first time ever, a guaranteed fund for protecting and restoring
�priceless lands across America. There are many good legislative ideas for achieving this goal. We
believe that any solution must provide at least $1 billion annually, with about half dedicated to
helping communities protect local green spaces. It also must recognize the unique environmental
challenges of coastal states, without creating any new incentives for offshore oil drilling.
Let's make this lasting gift to the new century. Let's ensure that not only our generation, but each
generation to come, will have the resources to leave this land an even better land for those who
follow.
One hundred fifty years ago, when President James Polk signed the Interior Department into
existence, brave pioneers were traversing a continent in covered wagons in search of a parcel of land
on the vast but unforgiving frontier. It is easy to understand why, in those days, many Americans
saw nature primarily as a resource to be exploited and an obstacle to be overcome.
But in the decades that followed, the conservation movement began to take shape. Some
people trace its origins all the way back to the scientific expeditions of John Wesley Powell, who
helped to map the Rocky Mountain Region for the Interior Department in the 1870s and later
became director of the U.S. Geological Survey. To this day, few people have managed to describe
the unique beauty of our Western lands the way Powell did. His descriptions of the Grand Canyon
are the most memorable of them all: "Form and color do not exhaust all the divine qualities of the
Grand Canyon," Powell wrote in The Canyons of Colorado. "The river swells in floods of music
when the storm gods play upon the rocks and fade away in soft and low murmurs when the infinite
blue of heaven is unveiled."
Sec. Babbitt grew up listening to that same music and looking out onto those same
spectacular vistas. And I will never forget my first visit to the Grand Canyon, in the summer of
1971. I found a place on a rock overlooking the infinite folds of sandstone and shale where I was all
alone. For two hours I sat and I lay down on that rock and I watched the sunset. And I watched the
colors change layer after layer after layer for two hours. I could have sat there for two days if the
sun had just taken a little longer to set.
The reason we and hundreds of millions of other Americans have had a chance to experience
the beauty of the Grand Canyon and so many other outdoor wonders is because our forebears felt an
abiding responsibility not only to their own generations but to ours. I am deeply grateful for their
altruism and foresight. I am grateful that they taught us the enduring value of stewardship. And I
am grateful to all of you here today who are making this noble cause your life's work.
Congratulations on this momentous milestone. And God bless you all.
###
ctptr*^
Aist^
&cso^.^
bc^f-
�Draft 3/3/99 2:00pm
Lowell Weiss
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
REMARKS AT DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR'S
150TH ANNIVERSARY EVENT
WASHINGTON, DC
March 4,1999
Acknowledge: Sec. Babbitt: a brilliant leader who does not take the concept of stewardship
lightly. I know all cabinet secretaries talk about putting out fires at their agencies. Sec. Babbitt puts
them all to shame when he grabs his orange fire suit and hops on a plane to fight real forestfiresout
west. Other acknowledgments TK.
Thank you very much for inviting me to be a small part of this big day. Frankly, you picked
the right guy for the job; I've been benefitting from your good work all my life. I was raised in Hot
Springs, the only city in America that contains a National Park, and spent all of my first 18 years in
a state that is more than half covered with pine and hardwood forests. When I graduated from law
school, I went home to the hills of north Arkansas, and I spent some ofthe happiest days of my life
along the Buffalo River ~ America's very first National River. And today, my family and I have
the great honor of living in one of the most beautiful units ofthe National Park System. Of course,
our lease is up in 1 year, 10 months, and 16 days - but who's counting?
/
More than any other part of the Federal government, the history of the Interior Department is
the history of America. It is the story of manifest destiny and our great western expansion. It is
story of fertile fields rising from the desert, of a people rising from the depths of the Great
Depression, of a nation marshaling the resources to win two world wars. It is the story of scientific
rj
discovery and restless exploration throughout the world and even ~ thanks to your work mapping
other planets ~ throughout the solar system. It is the story of our country's struggles to expand
j
^jjpporlumty^OF^i-FifstAn^
African-Americans, and all Americans ~ as when Harold Ickes
invited Marian Anderson to pefforhi on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial almost exactly 60 years
ago, in April of 1939.
^€i^>s
cr
Most of all, as Sec. Bahhitt has said, it is the story of America's ever-greater will to
preserve, conserve, and restore lands shaped by the hand of God over hundreds of millions of years
and pass them on to future generations healthy and whole. One hundred fifty years ago ~ when this
department was launched with a staff of 10 and a budget of $14,200 ~ it lacked a unifying purpose.
Today, the contrast is remarkable. Under the leadership of Sec. Babbitt, everything this department
does is guided by a single defining principle: stewardship. You act in the humble recognition that
all of us are but brief visitors on this Earth. You understand that everything we want for our
children depends on protecting the living forests and streams and deserts and wetlands that were
here so long before we arrived. Today, the "Department of Everything Else" is - and will forever
be - the Department of Stewardship. You should be very proud.
And best ofall, the kind of wise stewardship that guides this department reflects not just a
commitment to protecting precious natural resources but also a commitment to using a skillful
touch, not a heavy hand. Together, we are setting firm national goals ~ andfragileecosystems and
�future generations demand no less. But nowqn/re than ever before, we are challenging
communities and the private sector to find(the besnways to meet these goals. With common-sense
and uncommon flexibility, we are proving the pessimists wrong: we are proving that environmental
stewardship and economic growth are compatible ~ even inseparable ~ goals.
And the results we have achieved together have been remarkable. Three years ago, we set
out on a mission to preserve California's Headwaters Forest, the world's largest unprotected stand
of old-growth redwoods. And just three days ago, we did it. Thanks to the tireless efforts of many
people in this room and at your sister agency NOAA, not one of the magnificent trees of
Headwaters Forest will ever be logged. Anyone who has ever strolled through a grove of redwoods
-- a tangle of ferns at your feet, a living canopy reaching far overhead ~ knows that these ancient
forests are as much a part of our legacy as the world's greatest cathedrals. Thanks to you, the
millennia-old cathedrals of Headwaters are safe for all time.
On this proud anniversary, we should take note of other contributions we recently have made
to the future our children will inherit. We set aside vast, unspoiled, and wildlife-rich areas of the
Mojave Desert of California, designating three new National Parks. We put a stop to a massive
mining operation that threatened our pristine Yellowstone, the world's very first National Park. We
are renewing the sacred Florida Everglades — the most ambitious restoration project ever
undertaken in our nation's history. And to protect Utah's stunning red-rock canyons, we created the
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and completed the largest land exchange in the
continental U.S. since the Louisiana Purchase.
But we all know, we have much more work to do. In my State of the Union Address, I
proposed a $1 billion Lands Legacy Initiative - the largest one-year investment in preserving
America's precious lands since President Theodore Roosevelt set the Interior Department on a path
of stewardship nearly a century ago.
This initiative will allow us to continue your efforts to protect natural and historic lands
across the country ~ such as Civil War battlefields, remote stretches of the historic Lewis and Clark
Trail, and an additional 450,000 acres in and around Mojave and Joshua Tree National Parks.
It will also allow us to meet the stewardship challenges of a new century. It's no longer
enough for our nation to preserve its grandest natural wonders. As communities continue to grow
and expand, it has become every bit as important to preserve the small but sacred green and open
spaces closer to home ~ meadows and seashores where children can play ... streams where
sportsmen and -women can fish ... agricultural lands where family farmers produce the fresh
harvests that we often take for granted.
So my Lands Legacy Initiative will also help communities acquire new lands for urban and
suburban parks and set aside new wetland, coastal, and wildlife preserves. There will be no green
mandates from Washington and not an inch of red tape. Instead, the idea is to give communities all
the tools they need to realize their own conservation plans and to enhance our families' day-to-day
quality of life.
We believe this Lands Legacy Initiative must be a permanent legacy. Today, I pledge to
�work with Congress to create, for the first time ever, a guaranteed fund for protecting and restoring
priceless lands across America. There are many good legislative ideas for achieving this goal. We
believe that any solution must provide at least $1 billion annually, with about half dedicated to
helping communities protect local green spaces. It also must recognize the unique environmental
challenges of coastal states, without creating any new incentives for offshore oil drilling.
Let's make this lasting gift to the new century. Let's ensure that not only our generation, but each
generation to come, will have the resources to leave this land an even better land for those who
follow.
One hundred fifty years ago, when President James Polk signed the Interior Department into
existence, brave pioneers were traversing a continent in covered wagons in search of a parcel of land
on the vast but unforgiving American frontier. It is easy to understand why they saw nature
primarily as a resource to be exploited and an obstacle to be overcome.
But in the decades that followed, a conservation movement began to take shape. Some
people trace its origins all the way back to the scientific expeditions of John Wesley Powell, who
helped to map the Rocky Mountain Region for the Interior Department in the 1870s and later
became director of the U.S. Geological Survey. To this day, few people have managed to describe
the unique beauty of our Western lands the way Powell did. His descriptions of the Grand Canyon
are the most memorable of them all: "Form and color do not exhaust all the divine qualities of the
Grand Canyon," Powell wrote in The Canyons of Colorado. "The river swells in floods of music
when the storm gods play upon the rocks and fade away in soft and low murmurs when the infinite
blue of heaven is unveiled."
Sec. Babbitt grew up listening to that same music and looking out onto those same
spectacular vistas. And I will never forget my first visit to the Grand Canyon, in the summer of
1971. I found a place on a rock overlooking the infinite folds of sandstone and shale where I was all
alone. For two hours I sat and I lay down on that rock and I watched the sunset. And I watched the
colors change layer after layer after layer for two hours. I could have sat there for two days if the
sun had just taken a little longer to set.
The reason we and hundreds of millions of other Americans have had a chance to experience
the beauty of the Grand Canyon and so many other outdoor wonders is because our forebears felt an
abiding responsibility not only to their own generations but to ours. I am deeply grateful for their
generosity and foresight. I am grateful that they taught us the enduring value of stewardship. And I
am grateful to all of you here today who are making this noble cause your life's work.
Congratulations on this momentous milestone. And God bless you all.
###
�OJoDraft 3/3/99 9:30am
Lowell Weiss
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
REMARKS AT DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR'S
150TH ANNIVERSARY EVENT
^
^ WASHINGTON, DC
^\ ^ i ^ ' ^A^cfy
March 4
'
1999
ThankVou vefymuch for inviting me to be a small part of this big day. Frankly, you picked
the right guy for the job; I've been benefitting from your good work all my life. I was raised in Hot
Springs, the only city in America that contains a National Park, and spent all of my first 18 years in
a state that is more than half covered with pine and hardwood forests. When I graduated from law
school, I went home to the hills of north Arkansas, and I spent some ofthe happiest days of my life
along the Buffalo River - America's very first National River. And today, my family and I have
the great honor of living in one of the most beautiful units of the National Park System. Of course,
our lease is up in 1 year, 10 months, and 16 days ~ but who's counting?
More than any other part of the Federal government, the history of the Interior Department is
the history of America. It is the story of manifest destiny and our great western expansion. It is
story of cities rising from the desert, of a people rising from the depths of the Great Depression, of a
nation marshaling the resources to win two world wars. It is the story of scientific discovery and
restless exploration throughout the world and even — thanks to your work mapping other planets —
throughout the solar system. It is the story of our country's struggles to expand opportunity for our
First Americans, African-Americans, and all Americans ~ as when Harold Ickes. Sr. invited Marian
Anderson, the virtuoiju Afiium-Ainciiian upeid singer, to peFfe^n on the steps of the Lincoln
Memorial almost exactly 60 years ago, in 1939.
^— S"tf>i<?
Most of all, it is the story of America's ever-greater will to conserve lands shaped by the |/
hand of God over hundreds of millions of years so these lands cannot be sacrificed for short-term}
gain. One hundred fifty years ago ~ when this department was launched with a staff of 10 and a
budget of $14,200 -- the so-called "Department of Everything Else" lacked a unifying purpose.
Today, under the leadership of Sec. Babbitt, you are guided by a single defining principle:
stewardship. Wise, responsible stewardship over our sacred lands and natural resources. Devoted,
passionate stewardship to ensure that our children and their children will inherit an America that is
healthy and green.
And best of all, the stewardship that guides this department reflects not just a commitment to
protecting natural resources but also a commitment to doing it smart — with common-sense
solutions that achieve the greatest long-term benefits at the lowest possible cost. In keeping with
this Administration's efforts to shape a new kind of government for the 21st century, you have
promoted results, not rules. You have set firm national goals, but challenged communities and the
private sector to find the best ways to meet them. You have proven that environmental stewardship
and economic growth go hand in hand.
And your achievements have been nothing short of remarkable. Three years ago, you set out
to preserve California's Headwaters Forest, the world's largest unprotected stand of old-growth
�redwoods. And just three days ago, you achieved that goal. With your leadership, we completed an
historic agreement with the Pacific Lumber Company to ensure that Headwaters Forest in public
hands and ensure that it will never be logged. The agreement also establishes unprecedented
environmental safeguards on surrounding lands while allowing the company to continue harvesting
timber on a sustainable basis. And none of this would have been possible if not for the collaborative
habitat conservation approach developed here at Interior. Thank you very much for your tireless
worirm this verydifficult negotiation. Thanks to you, this ancient forest, and the web of life it
sustains, are safe for all time.
The protection of Headwaters is only your most recent success. With llie unguhig liulp of
our indi'pmrlmt •rkntifn jfmirl mul Irttndrftdn of inttrrentfiri pattipiV^ are beginning the process of v
restoring the Florida Everglades - the largest restoration project ever undertaken in the United
\
States. We set aside vast areas of the Mojave Desert of California, designating three new National
Parks. We put a stop to a massive mining operation that threatened Yellowstone, America's very
first National Park. To protect Utah's red-rock canyons, we completed the largest land exchange in
the continental U.S. since the Louisiana Purchase.
/
. C0<£J9i>r Of SfBUM&SHtr
But we all know, we have much more work to do. Our population and our cities are
growing, and our commitment to conservation must grow as well. Thankfully, we have never had a
better time to act. We can use this time of unparalleled prosperity to enhance our nation's natural
heritage for all Americans, for all time.
^
9fV*l
That is why I am calling on Congress to join me in launching a $ 1 billion Lands Legacy ^
Initiative to preserve millions of places of natural beauty across the country ~ including parklands
and open spaces within easy reach of every citizen. This initiative represents the single largest
annual investment in protecting America's green and open spaces since President Theodore
Roosevelt set the Interior Department on a path of conservation nearly a century ago.
The first part of the plan calls for dedicating $440 million next year to acquiring new federal
lands. Among our many priorities, we hope to secure an additional 450,000 acres of private land in
and around the new Mojave and Joshua Tree National Parks, expand beautiful forest refuges in New
England, and continue our massive restoration of the Florida Everglades.
The second part of the plan calls for investing nearly $600 million next year to help
communities save the open spaces that greatly enhance our families' day-to-day quality of life.
With flexible grants, loans, and easements, we will help communities acquire new lands for urban
and suburban forests and recreation sites and set aside new wetland, coastal, and wildlife preserves.
There will be no green mandates from Washington and not an inch of red tape. Instead, the idea is
to give communities all the tools they need to realize their own conservation plans.
We believe this Lands Legacy Initiative should be a permanent American legacy. That is
why we are working with Congress to create, for the first time ever, a permanent funding stream for
acquiring lands and preserving open spaces, so that we will not have to push Congress to"
"
appropriate funds for this purpose every year. There are many good legislative ideas for achieving
this goal. But we believe that any solution must provide at least $1 billion annually; must help to
protect habitat for at-risk wildlife; must recognize the unique environmental challenges of coastal
2
1$
�states; must provide flexible tools to help state, local, and tribal governments protect their open
spaces; and must avoid creating any incentives for new offshore oil drilling. Let's use this time of
prosperity to create a permanent funding stream for conserving our natural treasures. Let's make
this a gift to the new century.
One hundred fifty years ago, when President James Polk signed the Interior Department into
existence, brave pioneers were enduring great hardship to settle America's rough and unforgiving .. ^
frontier. At that time - for good reason ~ nature was primarily seen as a resource to be exploited
Z"* ^
and an obstacle to be overcome.
i
0
But in the decades that followed, a conservation movement began to take shape. Some
people trace its origins all the way back to the scientific expeditions of John Wesley Powell, who
helped to map the Rocky Mountain Region for the Interior Department in the 1870s and later
became director of the U.S. Geological Survey. To this day, few people have managed to describe
the unique beauty of our Western lands the way Powell did. His descriptions of the Grand Canyon
are the most memorable of them all: "Form and color do not exhaust all the divine qualities of the
Grand Canyon," Powell wrote in The Canyons of Colorado. "The river swells in floods of music
when the storm gods play upon the rocks and fade away in soft and low murmurs when the infinite
blue of heaven is unveiled."
Sec. Babbitt grew up listening to that same music and looking out onto those same
spectacular vistas. And I will never forget my first visit to the Grand Canyon, in the summer of
1971. I found a place on a rock overlooking the canyon where I was all alone. And for two hours I
sat and I lay down on that rock and I watched the sunset. And I watched the colors change layer
after layer after layer for two hours. I could have sat there for two days if the sun had just taken a
little longer to set.
The reason we and hundreds of millions of other Americans have had a chance to know the
beauty ofthe Grand Canyon and so many other outdoor wonders is because of dedicated public
servants like you. Public servants who recognize that we are but brief visitors on this Earth. Public
servants who understand that the success of America's next 150 years requires protecting the natural
treasures that were here so long before we arrived. Congratulations on this momentous occasion.
Thank you for your noble work. And God bless you all.
###
ft*
[-c**
�Draft 3/2/99 8:00pm
Lowell Weiss
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
REMARKS AT DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR'S
150TH ANNIVERSARY EVENT
WASHINGTON, DC
March 4,1999
Aclmqwledge: Sec. Babbitt [a brilliant leader who does not take the concept of stewardship
lightly. ^N^wTaU cabinet secretaries talk about putting outfiresat their agencies. Sec. Babbitt puts
them all to shame when he grabs his orange fire suit and hops on a plane to fight real forestfiresout
west.]; former Interior Secretaries: TK [If Stu Udall is present, we should mention Capitol Hill
memorial for Mo]; John Podesta: Indian leaders: TK; Dagmar Fertl. Richard Sanger, and all the
other award winners. Interior Department employees here and around the country.
Thank you very much for inviting me to be a small part of this big day. Frankly, you picked
the right guy for the job; I've been benefitting from your good work all my life. I was raised in Hot
Springs, the only city in America that contains a National Park, and spent all of my first 18 years in
a state that is more than half covered with pine and hardwood forests. When I graduated from law
school, I went home to the hills of north Arkansas, and I spent some of the happiest days of my life
along the Buffalo River ~ America's very first National River. And today, my family and I have
the great honor of living in one of the most beautiful units of the National Park System. Of course,
our lease is up in 1 year, 10 months, and 16 days — but who's counting?
More than any other part of the Federal government, the history of the Interior Department is
the history of America. It is the story of manifest destiny and our great western expansion. It is
story of cities rising from the desert, of a people rising from the depths of the Great Depression, of a
nation marshaling the resources to win two world wars. It is the story of scientific discovery and
restless exploration throughout the world and even ~ thanks to your work mapping other planets ~
throughout the solar system. It is the story of our country's struggles to expand opportunity for our
First Americans, African-Americans, and all Americans ~ as when Harold Ickes. Sr. invited Marian
Anderson, thejyirtuosp African=American_opera singer, to perform on the steps of the Lincoln
Memorial ^nl93j[rahnost exactly eOye^sagoT^,
C P Y V U I / W * ^ £0M/ vd<o /Utflcv\ c W x J ^
1
v
Most of all, it is the story of America's ever-greater need to conserve lands shaped by the
hand of God over hundreds of millions of years so they cannot be sacrificed for short-term gain.
One hundred fifty years ago - when this department was launched with a staff of 10 and a
headquarter^budget of $14,200 ~ the so-called "Department of Everything Else" lacked a unifying
purpose. Today, under the leadership of Sec. Babbitt, you are guided by a single defining principle:
stewardship. Wise, responsible stewardship over our sacred lands and natural resources. Devoted,
passionate stewardship to ensure that our children and their children will inherit an America that is
healthy and green.
And best of all, the stewardship that guides this department reflects not just a commitment to
protecting natural resources but also a commitment to doing it smart« with common-sense
solutions that achieve the greatest long-term benefits at the least possible cost. In keeping with this
Mr
�Administration's efforts to shape a new kind of government for the 21st century, you have promoted
results, not rules. You have set firm national goals, but challenged communities and the private
sector to find the best ways to meet them. You have proven that environmental stewardship and
economic growth go hand in hand.
And your achievements have been nothing short of remarkable. Three years ago, you set out
\
to preserve California's Headwaters Forest, the world's largest unprotected stand of old-growth
^
redwoods. And just three days ago, you achieved that goal. The Administration completed an (^MjCr
agreement with the Pacific Lumber Company to put the Headwaters Forest in public hands and \S
' I
ensure that it will never be logged. The agreement also establishes unprecedented environmental y ^ ^ ^
safeguards on surrounding lands while allowing the company to continue harvesting timber on a
J\sustainable basis. And none of this would have been possible if not for the collaborative habitat
conservation approach developed here at Interior.
- .
^Urt^i ^ Y T K /
n
r
Headwaters is only the most recent success. Wim the ongoing help of our independent
scientific panel and hundreds of interested parties, we /are beginning the process of restoring the
Florida Everglades ~ the largest restoration project ever undertaken in the United States. We set
aside vast areas of the Mojave Desert of California, designating three new National Parks. We put a
stop to a massive mining operation that threatened Yellowstone, America's very first National Park.
To protect Utah's red-rock canyons, we completed the largest land exchange in the continental U.S.
since the Louisiana Purchase. ^And in JanuarCl proposed to add the highest level of wilderness
protection to more than 5 million acres of backcountry lands within Yellowstone, Glacier, Great
Smoky Mountain, and other National Parks.
But we all know, we have much more work to do. Our population and our cities are
growing, and our commitment to conservation must grow as well. Thankfully, we have never had a
better time to act. We can use this time of unparalleled prosperity to enhance our nation's natural
heritage for all Americans, for all time.
That is why I am calling on Congress to join me in launching a $1 billion Lands Legacy
Initiative to preserve millions of places of natural beauty across the country ~ including parklands
and open spaces within easy reach of every citizen. This initiative represents the single largest
annual investment in protecting America's green and open spaces since President Theodore
Roosevelt set the Interior Department on a path of conservation nearly a century ago.
The first part of the plan calls for dedicating $440 million next year to acquiring new federal
lands. Among our many priorities, we hope to secure an additional 450,000 acres of private land in
and around the new Mojave and Joshua Tree National Parks, expand beautiful forest refuges in New
England, and continue our massive restoration of the Florida Everglades.
The second part of the plan calls for investing nearly $600 million next year to help
communities save the open spaces that greatly enhance our families' day-to-day quality of life.
With flexible grants, loans, and easements, we will help communities acquire new lands for urban
and suburban forests and recreation sites and set aside new wetland, coastal, and wildlife preserves.
There will be no green mandates from Washington and not an inch of red tape. Instead, the idea is
to give communities all the tools they need to realize their own conservation plans.
�We believe this Lands Legacy Initiative should be a permanent American legacy. That is
why we are working with Congress to create, for the first time ever, a permanent funding stream for
acquiring lands and preserving open spaces, so that we will not have to push Congress to
appropriate funds for this purpose every year. There are many good legislative ideas for achieving
this goal. But we believe that any solution must provide at least $1 billion annually; must help to
protect habitat for at-risk wildlife; must recognize the unique environmental challenges of coastal
states; must provide flexible tools to help state, local, and tribal governments protect their open
spaces; and must avoid creating any incentives for new offshore oil drilling. Let's use this time of
prosperity to create a permanent funding stream for conserving our natural treasures. Let's make
this a gift to the new century.
One hundred fifty years ago, when President James Polk signed the Interior Department into
existence, brave pioneers were enduring great hardshipjTto settle America's rough and unforgiving
frontier. Forjjhvions reasons,/hkture was primarily seen as a resource to be exploited and an
obstacle to be overcome.
^ x. ^ ,
( j ^
^ o d U ^ w w )
But in the decades that followed, a conservation movement began to take shape. Some
people trace its origins all the way back to the scientific expeditions of John Wesley Powell, who
helped to map the Rocky Mountain Region for the Interior Department in the 1870s and later
became director of the U.S. Geological Survey. To this day, few people have managed to capture
the uniquebeauty of our Western lanctethe way Powell did. His descriptions of the Grand Canyon
are jjw&etfely-the most memorable oTattT "Form and color do not exhaust all the divine qualities of
J
the Grand Canyon," Powell wrote in The Canyons of Colorado. "It is the land of music. The river F
thunders in perpetual roar, swelling in floods of music when the storm gods play upon the rocks and
tQ^^
fading away in soft and low murmurs when the infinite blue of heaven is unveiled." ^.vvt*-^.
^
Sec. Babbitt grew up listening to that same musicand Igg^&putonto those same
spectacular vistas. And I will never forget my first visitfmthe siimm^ofT971. I found a place on
a rock overlooking the Grand Canyon where I was all alone. And for two hours I sat and I lay down
on that rock and I watched the sunset. And I watched the colors change layer after layer after layer
for two hours. I could have sat there for two days if the sun had just taken a little longer to set.
The reason we and hundreds of millions of other Americans have had to chance} is because
of dedicated public servants like you. Public servants who recognize that we are but brief visitors
on this Earth. Public servants who understand that the success of America's next 150 years requires
protecting the natural treasures that were here so long before we arrived. Congratulations on this
momentous occasion. Thank you for your noble work. And God bless you all.
0
�Draft 1/11/99 7:35pm
Lowell Weiss
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
REMARKS ON CREATING A LANDS LEGACY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
U.S. NATIONAL ARBORETUM
WASHINGTON, DC
January 12,1999
Acknowledge: VP Gore. Sec. Babbitt. Dpty. Ag. Sec. Richard Rominger. Asst. Commerce
Sec. Terry Garcia, Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton. Mayor Anthony Williams. National Arboretum
Dir. Thomas Elias [ah-LIE-us], Theodore Roosevelt IV. Jean Mason.
On my tour just now I learned not only about the vital research the Department of
Agriculture is doing here. I heard about families with young children coming here every weekend
to get somefreshair and walk in the woods. I heard about the elementary schoolers who grow
vegetables here and then donate much of their harvest to the D.C. Central Kitchen. I heard about
help from AmeriCorps members and hundreds of other dedicated volunteers ~ including Mary
Mrose [mer-ROCE], a retired government geologist who recently donated more than $1 million of
her life savings to help ensure that we will always have this beautiful sanctuary in the middle of the
city. Mrs. Mrose, thank you for your remarkable gift.
The Vice President and I are here today because we believe that Mrs. Mrose has exactly the
right idea. We believe that every child in every community deserves a chance to grow up around
tall trees, not just tall buildings ... to know what vegetables look like when they're growing in the
ground, not just when they're lying in a supermarket bin ... to know what it feels like to walk on a
carpet of pine needles, not just asphalt. And that is why, in a few moments, I will announce a truly
unprecedented Lands Legacy Initiative to preserve millions of places of natural beauty across the
country - including parklands and open spaces within easy reach of every citizen.
At the dawn of this century, many Americans saw nature only as a resource to be exploited
or an obstacle to be overcome. But Theodore Roosevelt IV's great-grandfather saw nature more
like a divine gift. To President Roosevelt, an old-growth forest was far more than a stand of timber,
a pristine peak was far more than a repository of ore. So he set aside millions of acres of forest and
mountains and valleys and canyons ~ lands shaped by the hand of God over hundreds of millions of
years - so they could not be sacrificed for short-term gain. He defined his "great, central task" as
"leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us."
This is the vision we are fulfilling today. Over the past six years, we have set aside more
than a million and a half acres in the spectacular red-rock canyons of Utah. We have protected vast
areas ofthe Mojave Desert of California, designating three new National Parks. We have saved
more than 400,000 acres of pristine lands in Alaska. We are about to complete an historic
agreement to save vast tracts of ancient redwoods. We've put a stop to a massive mining operation
that threatened Yellowstone, America's very first National Park.
But we have much more work to do. Our population and our cities are growing, and our
commitment to conservation must grow as well. Thankfully, we have never had a better time to act.
�We can use this time of unparalleled prosperity to enhance our nation's natural heritage for all
Americans, for all time. In the sage words of Theodore Roosevelt, "We are not building this
country of ours for a day." We must "make sure it lasts through the ages."
So today, I am proud to announce our new $1 billion Lands Legacy Initiative to meet
the conservation challenges of a new century. This initiative, fully paid for in my new
balanced budget, represents more than a doubling of our already considerable commitment to
protecting America's precious lands. In fact, it represents the single largest annual
investment in protecting America's green and open spaces since President Theodore Roosevelt
set our nation on a path of conservation nearly a century ago.
The first part of our plan directlv builds on Theodore Roosevelt's conservation legacy bv
adding grand new crown jewels to America's endowment of natural treasures. Next year alone, we
will dedicate $440 million - largely from the sale of oil from existing off-shore oil leases - to
acquiring and protecting precious lands and coastal waters. Among our many priorities, we intend
to secure an additional 450,000 acres of private land in and around the new Mojave and Joshua Tree
National Parks ... to expand beautiful forest refuges in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, and New
York ... to continue our massive restoration of the Florida Everglades ... to extend America's marine
sanctuaries and restore coastal reefs.
In addition, I will propose to add the highest level of wilderness protection to more than 5
million acres of backcountry lands within Yellowstone, Glacier, Great Smoky Mountain, and other
National Parks. If Congress approves this request, the roar of bulldozers and chain saws and fourwheelers will never again drown out the call of the wild. Families will still be free to enjoy these
lands, but they will be expected to take only photographs and leave only footprints.
The second part of our plan, which works in tandem with the livable-communities initiative
the Vice President announced yesterday, represents a new vision of environmental stewardship for
the new century. Today, it's no longer enough for our nation to preserve its grandest natural
wonders. As communities continue to grow and expand, it has become every bit as important to
preserve the small but sacred green and open spaces closer to home — woods and meadows and
seashores where children can play... streams where sportsmen and -women canfish...agricultural
lands where family farmers produce thefreshharvests that we often take for granted.
In too many communities, farmland and open spaces are disappearing at an alarming rate. In
fact, across the country we lose about 7,000 acres every day. And as these lands become more
scarce, it becomes harder and harder for communities to afford the price of protecting them. That's
why we must act now.
So today, we will also dedicate nearly $600 million to helping communities across the
country save the open spaces that greatly enhance our families' day-to-day quality of life. With
flexible grants, loans, and easements, we will help communities save parks from being paved over
with parking lots and farms from turning into strip malls. We will help them acquire new lands for
urban and suburban forests and recreation sites. And we will help them set aside new wetland,
coastal, and wildlife preserves. There will be no green mandates from Washington and not an inch
of red tape. Instead, the idea is to give communities all the tools they need to realize their own
�conservation plans.
Let me give you an example of the kind of local efforts we will support. South Kingstown,
Rhode Island, was a quiet farming town for more than two centuries, but today it is the fastest
growing community in the state. Its citizens welcome growth. But they want to maintain their
parks and open spaces. They want to make sure parents won't have to sit in traffic jams when they
could be home reading to their children. They want to remain the kind of livable town where
employers have no trouble recruiting educated workers interested in a high quality of life.
So South Kingstown is setting aside one of every five acres as green space. They're
revitalizing the historic downtown by creating a greenway along the Saugatucket River so people
can stroll and bike right through the heart of town. And in November, voters overwhelmingly
approved a million-dollar bond measure to protect more farms and open spaces. This is the work
we will help South Kingstown complete. And this is the type of future-oriented community action
we will support throughout America ~ action that combines a vigorous commitment to economic
growth with an equally vigorous commitment to conservation.
Ever since Theodore Roosevelt launched our nation on the course of conservation at the
dawn of this century, pessimists have claimed that protecting the environment and strengthening the
economy were incompatible goals. But time and time again, we have proved the pessimists wrong.
Whether the issue was parkland preservation, acid rain, deadly pesticides, polluted rivers, or the
ozone hole, America has always found ways to protect our natural heritage so as to enhance, not
diminish, America's prosperity. And that is what we are doing here today.
With this historic Lands Legacy Initiative, and the far-sighted livable-communities plan the
Vice President announced yesterday, we will use flexible, innovative means to protect our nation's
and our communities' natural treasures. We will help create livable cities where both citizens and
businesses want to put down roots. And we will honor the core principle Theodore Roosevelt set
out for us a hundred years ago; we will leave this magnificent country "even a better land for our
descendants than it is for us."
Thank you and God bless you.
###
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Lowell Weiss
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Lowell Weiss
Office of Speechwriting
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1997-2001
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
<a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/36408">Collection Finding Aid</a>
<a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7431951">National Archives Catalog Description</a>
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
2006-0470-F
Description
An account of the resource
This collection consists of the speechwriting files of Lowell Weiss. Lowell Weiss worked as a Special Assistant to the President, Presidential Speechwriter from June 1997 - August 2000. Weiss traveled and wrote speeches for President Clinton on domestic issues. His speeches cover a broad array of topics. Major issues he wrote on concern the environment, education, the economy, and race relations. He wrote weekly radio addresses; commencement speeches; and remarks for bill signings, events, and conferences. The records consist of speeches, drafts, memoranda, correspondence, schedules, event and travel arrangements, notes, articles, and printed email.
Provenance
A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation. The statement may include a description of any changes successive custodians made to the resource.
Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
William J. Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
Extent
The size or duration of the resource.
464 folders in 36 boxes
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Paper
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Dept of Int 150 March 4, 1999 [3]
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Office of Speechwriting
Lowell Weiss
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
2006-0470-F
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Box 9
<a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/36408">Collection Finding Aid</a>
<a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/20760895">National Archives Catalog Description</a>
Provenance
A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation. The statement may include a description of any changes successive custodians made to the resource.
Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
William J. Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Adobe Acrobat Document
Medium
The material or physical carrier of the resource.
Preservation-Reproduction-Reference
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
20760895
42-t-7431951-20060470-F-009-007-2015