Land Conservation
Protected: The Fight for Land Conservation
PCL is engaged in promoting land and wildlife conservation on a state and national scale. Our partnership with the National Wildlife Federation has allowed us to be active in promoting measures that ensure funding for wildlife, land, and water conservation, protect our state’s habitat and wildlife, and repurpose land for more sustainable uses.
30×30 Strategic Plan
In October 2020, Governor Newsom signed Executive Order EO N-82-20. Among other things, this order sets a goal for California to conserve 30% of its lands, rivers, and oceans by 2030. In order to accomplish this, the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) has been tasked with developing a 30×30 strategic plan for how to accomplish this goal to present to the Governor by February 2022. As part of developing the plan, the CNRA has created a public engagement process with a series of topical and regional workshops for stakeholders to engage. PCL has been an active voice in this process and has provided comments on ways the strategic plan can improve its conservation strategy, protect biodiversity, and improve access to nature for all Californians. Learn more about California’s plan for 30×30.
Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (RAWA)
The nation’s animals are in danger: nearly 1,500 or approximately a third of all species are vulnerable to extinction or are endangered. The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (RAWA) proposes to help restore wildlife populations through channeling funding to help implement State Wildlife Action Plans (SWAP). The California SWAP, developed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife identified 264 invertebrates and 414 fish and wildlife species in need of conservation. These species include the Chinook salmon, northern spotted owl, San Joaquin kit fox, grizzly bear, Steller sea lion, and humpback whale. RAWA proposes to fund 1.3B to help implement the State Wildlife Action Plans, out of which, 63M would go to California. An additional 59.1M would go to tribal nations to help protect wildlife within reservations. PCL considers that this is an important step towards helping stabilize wildlife populations and is currently working with NWF to help this legislation pass in Congress. Learn more about NWF’s campaign for RAWA.
Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF)
The Land and Water Conservation Fund was established to help fund national parks, wildlife areas, and open spaces with funds generated from offshore oil and gas drilling fees. Since its establishment 50 years ago, California had received 2.5B to fund areas such as Muir Woods National Monument, Joshua Tree National Park, Lake Tahoe, the Pacific Crest Trail. The LWCF was set to be reauthorized each year but was not reauthorized at the end of 2018. Without the LWCF, national and community parks in California were set to lose a major portion of their funding. PCL helped pass the bill to permanently reauthorize the fund by swaying California delegates to support the reauthorization bill as it passed through Congress. Lean more about the LWCF.
Corn Ethanol Mandate
The Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) was enacted 10 years ago by the US Congress to produce more biofuels and to reduce the dependence on foreign fuels. However, the RFS had unprecedented consequences on the environment. The RFS incentivized the production of biodiesel from corn and soy products. In order to reach the high biofuel production standards set by the RFS, over 7 million acres of habitat were converted to cropland for corn production. Most of this conversion occurred in prairie land found in the Dakotas, namely the Prarie Potholes region which is considered prime habitat for migrating birds, bees, and monarch butterflies. The increase in corn production has also increased water pollution through the use of pesticides and increased runoff. PCL is working to pass the GREENER Fuels Act which would reduce corn ethanol production to be replaced by more sustainable plant biofuels and provide funding to mitigate the habitat damage caused by the RFS. Learn more about our campaign with NWF.