February 1^st Public Meeting on California’s 30 x 30 Strategy

30 x 30 California is an initiative to protect 30% of the state’s lands and waters by 2030, in response to Governor Newsom’s nature-based solutions Executive Order N-82-20 addressing the climate and extinction crises. On December 15, 2021, the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) released the draft report Pathways to 30×30: Accelerating Conservation of California’s Nature, which defines strategies to “protect biodiversity, advance equitable access to nature and combat climate change.”

On February 1^st from 3 to 6 pm there will be an online public comment session to respond to the draft Pathways to 30×30 report. Interested parties can register here to attend. At this session, the CNRA will gauge how close the draft comes to meeting public expectations. Final comments on the draft are due February 15^th.

30 x 30 California is our state’s version of efforts taking place nationally through President Biden’s Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad [https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/27/executive-order-on-tackling-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad/], and internationally through the United Nations Environment Programme, Joint Statement on Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, in which 77 countries are taking part.

The Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center has been participating on the state level since last spring through 30×30 regional meetings and workshops, and networking with a coalition of tribes and organizations to give input that contributed to the draft Pathways to 30×30 Report.

We will provide an oral comment at the February 1^st public meeting as well as written comments by the February 15^th deadline. We’re especially involved in helping the state develop the 30×30 strategy so that it can further goals to protect the volcanic source waters of Mount Shasta and the Medicine Lake Volcanic Basin, improve forest management, and create state-federal-tribal collaborations to protect public lands and waters.

While 30 x 30 seems like a dream-come-true, whether it will actually achieve its goals will come down to tribes, organizations and communities working with the government to achieve specific outcomes.

Please stay tuned to our website and facebook posts for recommendations on how you can help support goals for the Mount Shasta/Medicine Lake bioregion through the 30 x 30 strategy. For more information, feel free to contact Michelle Berditschevsky michelle@mountshastaecology.org