The year 2020 has seen millions of acres of California land ravaged due to unstoppable wildfires. To protect the state from further damage in the future, Governor Gavin Newsome has announced an executive order to reserve 30 percent of state land for conservation by 2030.
The executive order will require state agencies to boost and maintain soil health, restore wetlands, manage forests to reduce fire risks and create more parks and green spaces for cities. Thus far, no other state has carried out such sweeping land conservation efforts.
“This is a critical part of the climate change conversation, and it’s so often omitted,” the governor said. “When we talk about climate change, we get so consumed by energy and industry, commercial and residential side of this equation, and we forget our working lands. We forget our natural lands. We forget about species and we forget about animals, and plants, and insects. All of these things that truly make life not only worth living but life even capable of living.”
The executive order follows a recent order from Gov. Newsome which will see gas-powered vehicles phased out in favor of zero-emission vehicles by 2035. We wrote about the forthcoming ban on gas-powered cars in September. You can read about it right here.
