NATURE’S REMEDY
– by Shane Mahoney
New research proves that spending time outdoors improves our physical and mental health.
Photo above by Vic Schendel
August 4, 2020, marked a momentous conservation occasion in the United States. On that day the White House officially signaled that the long-pursued Great American Outdoors Act was, indeed, a reality, and the legislation passed into law on August 9. Representing one of the more significant environmental investments in recent decades, this Act restores an impressive and permanent $900 million a year to the 1965 Land and Water Conservation Fund, while allocating an additional $9.5 billion over the next five years to support badly needed maintenance projects for the country’s national parks. This legislation, supported by political elites and public entities on both sides of the proverbial aisle, represents a landmark decision for American citizens and the country itself. Perhaps it also signals what truly matters to the heart of the nation, emerging, as it did, in the caustic hurricane of contemporary American politics.
For those in the conservation community, the value of maintaining public lands and our access to them cannot be overstated. Hunters are a vital component of this community and embody a conservation ethic founded on the belief that wildlife is a public trust. But for this to be true, hunters and everyone else must be able to access and utilize wild spaces where animals can survive and thrive. Whether we hunt, fish, forage or simply hike, we need our public lands; they are the legacy of every citizen, a true inheritance for future generations; and a vital necessity for that great majority who cannot own expansive lands of their own.
