The Framework for a South Dakota Environmental Literacy Plan is a call for school, community, and family to step forward and intentionally prioritize building the environmental literacy of youth. It has two main purposes: 

1. Give a vision of the scope and breadth of how environmental literacy is realized.
2. Provide a framework to evaluate assets in order to leverage strengths, identify needs, and prioritize next steps. The term asset is an umbrella term to include resources, personnel, programs, and even the more subjective philosophies and attitudes. 

The expected users of the Framework are classrom teachers, school administrators, non-formal education an dyouth program staff, parents, and community and agency staff. It calls for different sectors to adopt an environmental literacy framework into their respective spheres including funding, policies, priorities, programs, and staffing. Thus, it is organized by societal groups (formal and non-formal educators, family, and local, regional, state, national, and global communities), each of which have similar components (a series of goals to help the decision-makers chart a path, suggested actions to achieve that goal, examples of achievable goals, etc.).