Environment

California nears 30x30 land goal while coastal waters trail

State officials say 27.1% of California land is conserved after a one-million-acre annual gain, compared with 21.9% of coastal waters.

Image credit: Bob Wick / U.S. Bureau of Land Management via Wikimedia Commons, public domain; archival November 2023 photograph of Chuckwalla Box Canyon, not the current progress report

California is on pace to conserve 30% of its land by 2030 after adding more than one million acres during the past year, the Los Angeles Times reported September 29. State officials said 27.1% of California land was conserved as of June, up from 23.8% when the state began tracking progress four years ago. Protected coastal waters remained further behind at 21.9%.

What it means locally

Much of the latest land gain came from two national monuments created during the closing days of the Biden administration, including Chuckwalla National Monument near Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California. About 78% of the terrain counted toward the state’s conservation goal is federally managed, and officials said some of the reported increase also came from reclassifying existing conservation agreements. Nearly all recent progress in coastal waters came from the federally designated Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary in 2024. California paused expansion of its marine protected areas while evaluating their effectiveness, but officials are now reviewing proposals for new protections and supporting tribal- and community-led coastal conservation. The accompanying photograph shows Chuckwalla Box Canyon in November 2023; it is archival and predates the current progress report.

Full report and further details: Read original report →