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"Serving our Youth, Protecting our Prairie Earth"
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Prairies get a voice! GPRC youth leaders speak at Atlanta conference
6 youth and 2 adults from Great Plains Restoration Council
attended the first-ever "Breaking the
Color Barrier in the Great American Outdoors" Conference held in Atlanta,
Georgia September 23 - 26, 2009. www.breakingthecolorbarrier.com
The conference was organized by Audrey and Frank Peterman,
authors of Legacy on the Land, and
others to combat the incorrect stereotype that "people of color don't care
about the environment". From around the country, several hundred activists,
policy makers, youth, outdoor sports enthusiasts, sailors, divers, Antarctic
explorers, media and many others came to set a next-stage agenda to address our planet's
critical needs as well as connect with each other and build a unified voice. We
shared work and stories, and how we may move forward during this time of
ecological crisis.
Prairies - America's "Flyover Country" - of course have
always been ignored, but throughout the conference GPRC gave a strong voice for
protection and restoration of our achingly beautiful but almost entirely
destroyed native prairies and plains, including the return and protection of wild
bison (buffalo), prairie dogs, and other native wildlife where they once
thrived. Wherever we go, we always
hear, "I never thought about the prairies." That for a region that once
encompassed some 400 million acres of diverse grassland ecosystems, from wet tallgrass
prairies with whooping cranes, bison and jaguarundis to high and dry shortgrass
plains with pronghorn antelope and prairie dogs, now all shattered into pieces.
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Youth Town Hall
A highlight of the conference was the Youth Town Hall, which was held for the entire assembly on Thursday, September 24. Senior officials from the Obama administration attended and spoke, including Mr. Robert G. Stanton, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior/Office of Budget and Management (Mr. Stanton is a Fort Worth native), and Mr. Sam Hamilton, Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
GPRC youth leaders with Mr. Robert G. Stanton (a Fort Worth native), who is Deputy Assistant Secretary/Policy and Program Management of the United States Department of the Interior. (Counterclockwise from left): Patrice, Olin, Michael, Kalule, KB, Sir Marquis, Mr. Stanton, and "GPRC Mom" Theresa Mayo.  As part of President Obama's "National Public Lands Day", GPRC youth volunteered at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Landmark after the conference ended Saturday afternoon, September 26, 2009.  VIEW MICHAEL's 3 MINUTE SPEECH to the entire conference
Addressing the crowd, GPRC youth leader Michael Cortez, 15, gave his first public speech. You can view his speech here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLeb_HXTKmk
Other GPRC youth were able to ask the following questions, which they crafted themselves:
"Because there is very little prairie land left, and there are no Great Plains National Parks, does the government have a plan to create a Great Plains National Park?" - Kalule Kabuta, 15
"How can the government help create green jobs in prairie restoration?" - Patrice Mayo, 15
"Restoring prairies helps fight climate change. Why do you think people aren't helping more?" - Sir Marquis Cortez, 11
One unfortunate incident occurred when an official from the U.S. Forest Service, in response to the Great Plains National Park question, exclaimed that we in fact had national grasslands. But there is a big difference between America's protected, revered National Parks and our overgrazed, commercially exploited national grasslands, where aerial gunning of wildlife like coyotes, and poisoning of prairie dogs, is common. At least a small portion of America's formerly great prairies and plains should be protected, restored and connected.
In general, our youth from Great Plains Restoration Council had a great time at the Atlanta conference, learned a lot, made friends with other youth from around the country, and shared a voice for prairies that won't be forgotten.
KB Kabuta, 18, GPRC Plains Youth InterACTION participant, and Pole Bridge Creek, Arabia Mountain Preserve, DeKalb County, GA.
Jarid Manos, CEO of GPRC; Julia Yarbough, Anchor of WTVJ-NBC Miami-Fort Lauderdale; Sir Marquis Cortez, 11, GPRC youth, and Audrey Peterman, Breaking the Color Barrier conference organizer and co-author of Legacy on the Land.
To culminate the conference, trips were taken to the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. boyhood home on Auburn Ave., we joined a service project for the National Public Lands Day at the MLK National Historic Site, and went and interacted with folks from the rural Flat Rock Community in south DeKalb County, one of the oldest continually-existing black communities in the United States.
To view the full photo album of the trip, please visit the Plains Youth InterACTION page of our website.
Visit to the Flat Rock Community
The story of people on the land is the American story, wherever we live.
We all must continue that story into the future - build new stories - to ensure true health.
"Ecological Health is the interdependent health of humans, animals and ecosystems."
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Green Jobs in wildlands restoration
Green Jobs in wildlands restoration is the missing sector of the Green Collar Economy that nobody is talking about. Please add your voice in calling for new Green Jobs for workers to rebuild our natural infrastructure, the living, breathing ecosystems that give us life. Native prairies sequester carbon, intercept storm runoff, filter water, recharge groundwater, help clean the air, and more. These are called ecosystem services. And native prairies provide home and refuge for some of our most struggling animals.
Black-tailed prairie dog.
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Donations and volunteers are needed!
Please Join Us, Please Donate and Please Volunteer
Financial support, skills, tools, equipment, a good work truck and 16 passenger van, networking, social media, or simple volunteer work hours out in the field - it's time for all hands on deck to save the Prairies and Plains and help youth become leaders in Ecological Health.
Please contact GPRC headquarters at info@gprc.org or 817-838-9022 to volunteer or make a donation. You may also donate online by clicking here.
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| "Restoring prairies helps fight climate change!" |
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