Interior launches Natural Resource Investment Center, furthering administration’s commitment to conservation

“Today, Secretary Jewell has echoed President Obama’s call for landscape-scale approaches and market-based solutions for conservation by establishing a Natural Resource Investment Center, furthering this administration’s commitment to preserving our nation’s land, water and wildlife.

“This announcement sends a strong signal to investors that the path to prosperity lies in protecting the natural resources that sustain us all.

“My hope is that all federal agencies – from the Fish and Wildlife Service to the Bureau of Land Management – will now embrace new tools that bring the efficiency of markets to the business of conservation.

“At EDF, our approach to conservation has always been consistent with the preferences outlined today by Secretary Jewell – approaches that align economic incentives with the highest environmental outcomes. We worked tirelessly to develop habitat exchanges for the greater sage-grouse that achieve more advanced habitat accounting, more efficient permitting and higher quality mitigation – all in a way that is scalable beyond the capacity of previous tools. I am hopeful that the new Natural Resource Investment Center will begin to drive more dollars into these types of programs, creating investment opportunities that benefit us all.”

- Eric Holst, associate vice president of working lands at Environmental Defense Fund