With the world united behind the 30x30 goal, Westerners are ready to see real progress.
Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** What does the global 30x30 pledge mean for Western public lands?
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Tuesday, December 20, 2022
Pronghorn in sagebrush steppe near the Wind River Range, Wyoming, U.S. Geological Survey ([link removed])
At the conclusion of the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in Montreal, Canada, almost 200 countries reached an agreement ([link removed]) to protect 30 percent of the planet by 2030 in hopes of preventing irrecoverable biodiversity loss and catastrophic ecosystem collapse.
While the United States is not a party ([link removed]) to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the treaty that is the basis of the conference, the 30x30 pledge is in line with the Biden administration's America the Beautiful Initiative ([link removed]) , which set the goal of conserving 30 percent of the nation's lands and waters by 2030. "Together with our international partners, we can cultivate a global ecosystem where biodiversity flourishes, lands and waters are protected, and people have equitable access to all of nature’s benefits. Under President Biden’s leadership, the United States will continue our progress towards broad, equitable, and strong environmental stewardship, with continued global cooperation as our shared goal," Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory said in a statement
([link removed]) .
Western public lands host a wide variety of ecosystems and species, and will play a critical role in helping the U.S. reach its 30x30 goal and in preventing biodiversity collapse. But the clock is ticking ([link removed]) , and the Biden administration will need to pursue executive conservation actions ([link removed]) over the next two years to show progress towards this goal.
Executive conservation action can achieve meaningful protections for landscapes and habitats,
and is overwhelmingly popular ([link removed]) with the public. The Center for Western Priorities' Road to 30 Postcards ([link removed]) series tells the stories of landscapes that deserve protection and can help the nation reach the 30x30 goal. Many protection proposals have languished in Congress for years, as highlighted in the Center for Western Priorities' recent report, Languishing Lands ([link removed]) . With the world united behind the 30x30 goal, Westerners are ready ([link removed]) to see real progress.
Quick hits
** New national monument proposed in California's Sierra Nevada
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E&E News ([link removed]) | KMPH ([link removed])
** Permanent protections sought for New Mexico's Caja del Rio
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Public News Service ([link removed])
** New Mexico too reliant on fossil fuel revenue, analysts say
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Santa Fe New Mexican ([link removed]) | Albuquerque Journal ([link removed])
** BLM to review lithium mine proposal following endangered plant listing
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KTVN ([link removed]) | KOLO ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed])
** Colorado's White River National Forest drives $1.6 billion in economic activity
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Colorado Sun ([link removed])
** Uinta Basin Railway opposition unites Colorado towns, Utah backcountry residents
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Aspen Times ([link removed]) | Glenwood Springs Post-Independent ([link removed]) [editorial]
** New research forest in Oregon will be largest in North America
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OPB News ([link removed])
** One governor's border wall is another governor's headache
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New York Times ([link removed])
Quote of the day
” We have been on a rapid path of destruction of nature for hundreds of years, and this can mark a turning point.”
—Brian O'Donnell, Director of Campaign for Nature, Washington Post ([link removed])
Picture this
** @GrandCanyonNPS ([link removed])
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"What about that shadowy place?" "That's beyond our borders. You must never go there." Grand Canyon's elk live in the ponderosa and pinyon-juniper forests on the South Rim. They will not typically venture below the rim, and certainly not to the shadowed area deep in the canyon.
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