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The Biden administration has launched a $1 billion program meant to advance its "America the Beautiful" goal of conserving 30% of the nation’s land and waters by 2030. Known as the "America the Beautiful Challenge," the program will make grants available to states, tribes, territories, non-governmental organizations, and others to apply for conservation and restoration projects.
The program is backed by an initial commitment of $440 million in federal funding to a new public-private grant program, which will be administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, a private non-profit. This funding is meant to draw in private contributions to make up the $1 billion commitment. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is a major source of the initial federal investment in the America the Beautiful Challenge.
“Kudos to President Biden and Interior Secretary Haaland for giving this boost to locally-driven conservation efforts. Protecting 30 percent of America’s lands and waters by the end of the decade can only be accomplished through partnerships and knowledge on the ground in all 50 states. This billion-dollar commitment shows the administration is on the right track to reaching 30×30," Center for Western Priorities Executive Director Jennifer Rokala said in a statement.
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We're locked into a system of fossil fuels that time and time and time again is being shown to be actually quite a vulnerable, fragile system."
