Protection of our wildlife and conservation of our public lands has always been one of SEEC’s top priorities. Every year, our members call for increased funding for programs that support wildlife and habitat conservation in the U.S. and abroad, and our members were some of the most vocal advocates for policy changes to provide full and permanent funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).

During the Trump Administration, we had to play a lot of defense. SEEC members pushed back when his budget tried to cut the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) by 97% and we fought to restore legal protections for migratory birds after the Trump Administration overruled nearly 100 years of precedent in 2017 and declared that companies could kill birds as a part of doing business with no requirement to change their behavior or use best practices.

SEEC members also fought back against the Trump Administration’s efforts to auction away public lands as fast as possible — at times even giving them away for pennies during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

But we had some real victories too. SEEC members advocated for many of the ideas that were included in 2020’s Great American Outdoors Act, which fully funded the Land and Water Conservation Fund for the first time since the 1960’s and has been called one of the most important environmental laws in decades.