U.S. Needs to Conserve Land Twice the Size of Texas to Reach Biden's 30x30 Goal
30 x 30 Goal 050721
President Biden's plan to conserve 30% of U.S. land and water by the year 2030 now has a name and additional details, which includes the potential impact on agriculture.
Administration officials outlined the plan on Thursday. It's now called "America the Beautiful," and is a 10 year, locally-led and voluntary nationwide effort to conserve, connect and restore 30% of the nation's lands and waters by the year 2030. While the plan did have more details, there were few specifics on which areas would be set aside for conservation, calling the recommendations a starting point.
The Biden administration did lay out six priority areas...
- Creating more parks in nature-deprived communities
- Supporting tribally led conservation and restoration priorities
- Expanding collaborative conservation of fish and wildlife habitats and corridors
- Increasing access for outdoor recreation
- Creating jobs by investing in restoration and resilience
- Incentivizing and rewarding the voluntary conservation efforts of fishers, ranchers, farmers and forest owners
Government leaders have not put a price tag on the plan just yet, but officials like Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack acknowledged the plan will need additional budget to achieve Biden's climate goals through the plan.
"It will take more resource than we have we have had in the past, and that's why the President's budget has proposed additional resources for the Department of Agriculture in terms of its conservation responsibilities and its forest responsibilities to it's incumbent upon us to figure out creative ways to leverage those resources, which is why it's important to underscore the locally led component of the America Beautiful effort," Vilsack said. "Number three, it is also necessary that you match the financial resources with the personnel resources so that the resources, the financial resources are invested wisely and appropriately. :
Some Republican lawmakers speaking out against the 30 by 30 goal. They are concerned the government could designate strict protections on some lands that remain productive.
Currently, nearly 26% of costal waters are conserved, but only 12% of U.S. land is considered to be conserved.
To reach the 30% target, it would require adding an additional area twice the size of Texas, or more than 440-million acres.
