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With a divided Congress on the way in 2023, the chances of passing legislation to protect 30 percent of America's lands and waters appear to be dwindling. A new report from the Center for American Progress lays out a path for President Joe Biden to reach the 30x30 goal through executive action.
The eight point plan begins with designating new national monuments and marine sanctuaries, then moves on to rulemaking and planning to protect high-value Bureau of Land Management lands, conserving old forests, and expanding national wildlife refuges.
Drew McConville, the lead author of the report and a former senior adviser at the White House Council on Environmental Quality during the Obama administration, told the Washington Post that while President Biden has taken important steps, “more urgency is needed to meet this part of his climate commitment.”
McConville encouraged the president to listen to local communities that are asking for national monument designations, including Avi Kwa Ame in Nevada and Castner Range in Texas. “The good news—and a major conclusion here—is that he and his Cabinet already have the tools to make it happen,” he said.
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Political cartoonist Rob Pudim tells of hiking a trail he’d worked on for several summers and feeling an onrush of possessiveness: ‘I own this land,’ he recalls thinking. In a way, he’s right. We do own this land, though it is managed—even if we rarely see a ranger—by federal agencies.”
