This morning, the Biden-Harris administration laid out a national conservation strategy for achieving 30×30, a national goal of conserving 30% of U.S. lands, waters, and ocean by 2030. Their Conservation and Restoring America the Beautiful report to the National Climate Task Force recommends a 10-year campaign to restore the nation’s lands and waters. It offers a plan to address the inequitable distribution of nature and climate crises and to support locally-led conservation efforts across all regions of the country, including voluntary conservation on working and private lands, local and state lands, and state and federal waters. The campaign sets the first-ever national-level conservation goal in U.S. history, and is the latest effort to address global 30×30 goals established by the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2020.
The 30×30 campaign and its guiding principles have been informed by Tribal leaders, governors, members of Congress, state and county officials, state fish and wildlife agencies, leaders on equity and justice in conservation policy, environmental advocacy organizations, hunting and fishing organizations, farming and ranching organizations, trade associations, forestry representatives, outdoor recreation businesses and users, the seafood industry, and others. The administration’s immediate next steps to achieve 30×30 include:
- Creating more parks and safe outdoor opportunities in nature-deprived communities,
- Supporting Tribally led conservation and restoration priorities,
- Enhancing wildlife corridors and winter ranges,
- Increasing access for outdoor recreation,
- Incentivizing and rewarding the voluntary conservation efforts of fishers, ranchers, farmers, and forest owners, and
- Creating jobs by investing in restoration and resilience.
The Salazar Center is thrilled to see the 30×30 campaign move forward at a national level. Since our inception, we have championed conservation efforts that bolster 30×30 and its guiding principles – through our Connectivity Challenge, our first annual symposium, episodes of our webinar series, and more – and we will continue to support and advance this critical conservation goal. Later this year, the Center’s third annual symposium will focus on 30×30 in the U.S., as well as how it aligns with similar work already underway in Canada and related goals in Mexico.
We applaud this national campaign as an inclusive and bold vision for safeguarding America’s lands, water, and wildlife that will support the efforts of people across the country, including rural and coastal communities, Tribal Nations, private landowners, and many others on the frontlines of conserving, stewarding, restoring, using, and enjoying nature.