Four years after unveiling an ambitious plan to conserve 30% of California’s lands and coastal waters by 2030, state officials on Monday announced that they are closing in on that target.
Since the start of the so-called 30x30 Initiative, California has added nearly 1.5 million acres — or roughly 2,350 square miles — of conserved lands, according to a progress report from Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Natural Resources Agency.
In all, the report shows that California has now conserved 25.2% of its lands and 16.2% of its coastal waters with a little more than five years until the deadline.
“In 2020, I signed an executive order to conserve 30% of lands and 30% of coastal waters in California by 2030,” Newsom said in a statement. “And four years into this effort, we’re on track to achieve this target, with over a quarter of our lands protected. We won’t stop working to protect California’s unparalleled natural beauty for generations to come.”
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The stated goals of the 30x30 initiative extend beyond conservation. The plan also seeks to help restore biodiversity, expand access to nature and help mitigate and build resilience to climate change.
The initiative kicked off in earnest in 2022 when officials released a detailed road map for the plan. The state added 631,000 acres between April of that year and May 2023, and has added an additional 861,000 acres since then, according to the report.
“It’s great that we’re over the 25% threshold, and we also have more work to do,” said Wade Crowfoot, California’s Natural Resources secretary. “We’re really energized by the progress, and we’re energized that there are so many entities that are partnering with us to actually get out there and conserve places — whether it’s land trusts or tribes or local governments. We’re on track, and it’s going to require us to maintain momentum, but this year represents a really big step forward.”
This year’s increase in acreage includes areas that were newly conserved through ancestral land return, land acquisitions, new conservation easements and other methods, the report says.
The increase also includes acres that were found to meet the 30x30 definition after previously lacking sufficient data to consider their level of protection and management for biodiversity.
Among the biggest recent gains were the expansion of two national monuments — the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument — which enhanced protections for about 120,000 acres of federal lands.
California also made progress toward the goal through its first-ever ancestral land return effort, which provided $100 million in grant funding for the return of roughly 38,950 acres to Indigenous communities. Among the recipients were the Hoopa Valley Tribe, which received funding to help reacquire about 10,300 acres of their lands in the Klamath River watershed that were formerly being managed by a timber trust.
The grant awards were “an acknowledgment of past sins, a promise of accountability, and a commitment to a better future,” Newsom said in a statement at the time.
Additionally, the state’s effort to transform more than half of its 100 million acres into multi-benefit landscapes that can absorb carbon and combat climate change will help reach the 30x30 goal, officials said. Those targets, known as nature-based solutions, include millions of acres that will be managed to reduce wildfire risk, protect water supplies and enhance biodiversity, among other outcomes.
The Biden administration added to the Southern California monument that was established by President Obama in 2014, and also expanded the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument in Northern California.
California’s plan helped pave the way for similar efforts at the national level, with states such as Nevada, South Carolina, Hawaii, Maine and New York now working toward their own 30x30 goals.
But California has created the world’s strongest definition for protected areas under 30x30, Crowfoot said, which includes lands and waters that are protected in perpetuity and principally for ecological benefit.
“I’m really proud that California has not only established what we consider to be the strongest definition of 30x30, but also the most detailed road map to actually achieve it,” he said. “[The lands] can have other benefits like public access, but they have to principally be protected for environmental benefits.”
In 2021, President Biden also unveiled a national version of the 30x30 plan known as the America the Beautiful Initiative, which has already seen more than 41 million acres conserved, according to the White House.
State officials unveiled 81 targets to transform millions of acres in the Golden State into landscapes that can absorb more carbon than they release by 2045.
But California’s program is also facing constraints from the state’s tightening budget, which included some cuts to the program this year as Newsom worked to close a $45-billion deficit. The budget maintained $1.3 billion out of a previously allocated $1.6 billion for 30x30.
Crowfoot said $1.3 billion still represents a major investment in conservation, and that the program is also receiving boosts from federal funding through the Inflation Reduction Act as well as growing philanthropic interest, particularly in ancestral land return efforts.
And although the initiative is getting closer to its goal, the state must still conserve an additional 4.8 million acres of land and 500,000 acres of coastal waters to meet its commitment, the report says.
There are several plans and projects underway that can help it get there, Crowfoot said. Among them is a proposal to designate Chuckwalla National Monument in the eastern Coachella Valley, which would encompass nearly 650,000 acres, including an expansion of Joshua Tree National Park by more than 17,000 acres.
And although coastal water gains have so far been harder to come by, a proposed Chumash National Marine Sanctuary off California’s Central Coast could potentially add to 30x30’s gains if its management plans are found to match the program’s requirements.
“I’m confident that we can get there,” Crowfoot said of the 2030 goal, “but it will rely on continuing to build this movement. It’s a global movement that we’re leading in California.”
