President Obama today put his signature on a Presidential Memorandum and with that stroke of the pen launched America’s Great Outdoors Initiative. Its goal is to bring communities together and take the environmental discussion out of Washington.

Speaking before an audience of leaders from the conservation, farming, ranching, sporting, forestry and parks communities at the Department of the Interior, Obama said that the nation needed to develop a new strategy to protect its natural resources in the 21st century.

The nation, faces new challenges, such as population growth and climate change, which place a growing strain on wildlife, water and land.

The presidential initiative directs members of the administration to host regional listening sessions across the United States, beginning in the next few months. The first meetings are scheduled for Los Angeles, and for the northern Everglades in Florida.