You may have heard that in order to meet the dual challenges of Climate Change and mass extinction we must formally protect 30% of native ecosystems by 2030. It’s been in the news quite a bit lately with Governor Newsom and President Biden both  announcing their support of the 30x30 campaign. 

The idea for 30x30 came from A Global Deal For Nature, a time-bound, science-driven plan to save the diversity and abundance of life on Earth. This report was developed by scientists and other stakeholders in anticipation of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity to be held later this year. The report also states that 30x30 is just the beginning. We will need to conserve 50% of the Earth in a natural state by 2050 along with a variety of other climate change initiatives in order to avoid the more catastrophic effects of global warming. 

The Sierra Club and many other organizations immediately jumped onto the 30x30 bandwagon, including the Range of Light Group. With the goal only ten years away, the time to start is now. There’s plenty of land, water, and wildlife to conserve in the Eastern Sierra. We need to ensure these ecosystems are not further degraded or, at the very least, maintained as they are.  Though we have lands currently under permanent protection (i.e. parks and wilderness), we may want to raise the level of protections on other public lands that are currently threatened by development or extraction industries.  This will involve a wide range of conservation actions tailored to each area with input from a wide variety of stakeholders.

ROLG has been working with Sierra Club at state and chapter levels to develop a 30x30 protocol that can be implemented at the grassroots level on up. We would like to make sure our Chapters and Groups have the opportunity to make substantive contributions to the list of lands and waters to be considered for protection.  To this end we have begun to compile our own list of lands we would like to see included.

If you would like to participate in the 30x30 effort, or if you have suggestions of lands/waters you would like to see protected in Mono and Inyo Counties, please contact us at rangeoflight.sc@gmail.com. Governor Newsom's Executive Order directs the California Natural Resources Agency to protect 30% of the state's land and coastal waters by 2030. Email them to be included in their outreach materials. Their Nature-Based Solutions video is an excellent place to learn about the campaign.