Nature Is Nonpartisan Hosts Summit, Focuses on the Next Generation of America's Conservation Movement
Conservation leaders gathered in Sanibel, Florida, to reimagine how the movement engages the public and build a more inclusive, accessible future for American conservation
SANIBEL, FL — Nature Is Nonpartisan hosted a convening of environmental leaders in Sanibel, Florida, bringing together powerful changemakers with a wide range of expertise for one common goal: to build the strongest future possible for American conservation.
“If we truly want to partner with everyday Americans as we tackle environmental challenges, we need to communicate differently. We need to meet the moment of the 21st-century. People need to feel invited in and not tuned out,” said Benji Backer, Founder and CEO of Nature Is Nonpartisan. “Now is the time to reengage the public in a new way that meets this moment, reflecting both the urgency of our nation’s growing conservation issues and the complexity of today’s growing conservation challenges through a lens of hope.”
Following Nature Is Nonpartisan’s inaugural summit last June, we heard a clear message: the conservation movement needs to align our messaging to expand reach, create more impact, and build a winning coalition of advocates.
Now, we’re gearing up to launch United by Nature, an initiative to bring people back together around the outdoors and make it easy to show up in ways that actually create lasting change. Designed to be a movement-wide effort, United by Nature will be built in partnership with environmental experts, cultural icons, and everyday Americans to give what has become an insiders-only movement back to the people who care most about our nation’s natural beauty and resources — the Outsiders.
A special thank you to The Everglades Foundation for inspiring the location for this summit. Their work in the Everglades has not only become one of the greatest conservation success stories of all time, but has ensured Floridians have clean drinking water, flowing springs, and healthy, resilient ecosystems.
Notable groups in attendance included: American Forests, the American Forest Foundation, American Rivers, Captains for Clean Water, Colorado Cattleman’s Agricultural Land Trust, Delta Waterfowl, Ducks Unlimited, the Great Salt Lake Alliance, HECHO, the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, MeatEater, the National Audubon Society, the National Environmental Education Foundation, the National Forest Foundation, the National Park Foundation, the National Recreation and Parks Association, the National Wildlife Federation, the Native American Fish and Wildlife Society, Outdoor Alliance, Outdoor America, Pheasants/Quail Forever, the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, the Pew Charitable Trusts, Trust for Public Land, and the Western Landowners Alliance.
