Biden’s “30 by 30” plan could mean protecting 14 million more acres of land, water in Colorado – The Denver Post

Embracing a nature-saving goal championed in Congress by lawmakers in Colorado and other western states, President Joe Biden on Thursday unveiled plans for preserving 30% of U.S. land and water by 2030 — a core of his agenda for addressing climate warming.

Natural land and water could draw down the heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that causes climate change, scientists say, and nature increasingly is understood as a life support system for human survival both inside cities and in rural areas. Preserving at least 30% of land and water by 2030, they say, is a necessary step to pull back from a tipping point for nature and the climate.

Biden officials, in a report titled “Conserving and Restoring America the Beautiful,” set the unprecedented national goal of conserving 30% of lands, waters and ocean within nine years.

The report recommends a 10-year campaign to restore the nation’s lands and waters, action to address the inequitable distribution of protected natural areas, and harnessing nature to contain climate warming. White House officials are rallying support for locally-led conservation work nationwide, including voluntary conservation on private land as well as state, federal and local public land and water.

Colorado may be ahead of the game as conservation groups develop strategies to save 14 million acres that remain largely undeveloped inside this 67 million-acre state by incentivizing voluntary protective easements on private land, creating new parks in cities and rural areas, and dialing back development on public lands. About 10% of the state’s land already has some type of protection.

The conservation groups are seeking a formal declaration by Gov. Jared Polis, who has championed nature as crucial for a recreation-oriented economy, especially in areas shifting away from the extraction of fossil fuels.

Polis and Colorado Department of Natural Resources director Dan Gibbs didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday morning.

The Biden administration reflects the prioritization of efforts that won wide support but also face political obstacles as groups supporting private property rights raise concerns.

The so-called “30 by 30” concept emerged in recent years as scientists concerned about climate change calculated what would be necessary to ensure human survival and slow the extinctions of other species. They’ve said losing nature, including habitat for wildlife, is a primary threat.

They’ve proposed an international  “global nature deal” that would establish protection for 50% of the planet by 2050.  Reaching that target has been interpreted by U.S. supporters as requiring major progress before 2030.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, about 12% of U.S. land and 23% of oceans around the nation are protected. But a Conservation Science partners analysis found that, from 2001 to 2017, the United States lost natural terrain the size of a football field every 30 seconds as humans expanded highways, mines, suburbs and other development.

Protecting 30% of land and water by 2030, proponents say, will require cooperative efforts by landowners, tribal nations, cities, rural communities and others for the purpose of taking care of and restoring nature.

Last year, U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Lafayette, launched House legislation to achieve the target. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., along with former Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico, pushed similar legislation in the Senate.

One week into his presidency, Biden pledged to achieve the 30 by 30 goal, winning some bipartisan support. Biden directed Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, working with commerce department officials, to develop a plan by April  27.

Biden administration officials already have paused federal issuance of leases for new fossil fuel development on public land and waters. And the efforts initiated under President Donald Trump to shrink protection of the Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments in Utah now are under review.

Republicans in the House, in particular, are expected to challenge this effort and private property groups have dubbed it “a land grab.”

An April 22 letter from the American Farm Bureau Federation to Biden asserted that farmer and rancher concerns “are escalating regarding the intent of the 30×30 goal, the definition of conservation, and the metrics for defining success.”  Federation leaders have asked for recognition that farmers and ranchers, through voluntary conservation programs, already have protected more than 140 million acres — an area bigger than New York and California combined.

“Any discussion about conservation must begin with the recognition that farmers and ranchers are already leaders in this space and have been for decades,” the letter said.

Vilsack subsequently has declared that “there’s no intent to take land away” and said 30 by 30 will create new opportunities.

In Colorado, about 10% of the state’s 67 million acres already receive some sort of protection, according to a Center for American Progress analysis, while 24% of land already has been modified by human development, the analysis found. Between 2001 and 2017, it found, development altered nearly 700,000 acres.

Across Colorado and the Rocky Mountain West, polls have found, a majority of residents consider themselves “conservationists” and support 30 by 30. Mayors from 70 cities along with 450 state and local leaders have signed letters declaring support. At least nine western county governments have passed supportive resolutions, including six in Colorado (Boulder, Gilpin, La Plata, San Miguel, Telluride, and Broomfield).

A “Colorado Pathways to 30×30” strategy developed last year by Western Resource Advocates and Conservation Colorado calculated that the state already contains about 6 million acres of protected terrain, roughly 10% of the total area. Colorado could achieve a 30 by 30 goal within the state by protecting and restoring 14 million more acres of land and waterways, the strategy report concluded.

“In Colorado, not only is this loss of nature dramatic and devastating, we are also experiencing the impacts of climate change in the forms of increased catastrophic wildfires, decline of wildlife, increased drought and tree disease,” the report says. “If we continue on the same path of nature loss compounded with climate change, we will experience ever-larger consequences that will ultimately collapse entire ecosystems, create dramatic water and food scarcity, and diminish our economy and our quality of life.”

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