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MEMO: Your coverage of locally driven conservation ideas is a pathway for stories to be told about 30 x 30 effort

June 11, 2021 By Jennifer Dickson
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30 x 30. America the Beautiful. Both are broad references to an effort underway to unite our nation behind goals deemed critical by scientists to address the urgency of the climate crisis and the rapid disappearance of nature and wildlife across the country and the globe. The strategies outlined under President Biden’s America the Beautiful initiative are bold, yet achievable, and rely on communities playing a leading role in identifying and advocating for home grown solutions to address climate change, inequitable access to nature, and species loss, which are affecting public health, clean air, fresh water and food supplies, and quality of life nationwide.  

Helping the average person understand what this initiative truly means while not getting distracted by always-anti-conservation-opponents will be pivotal to our nation meeting these critical goals.  As a reporter, you are the pathway for stories to be told about locally driven, creative ideas for conservation and restoration– ranging from local parks and open spaces to federally managed public lands – and we hope to be a resource for you as you dig deeper into coverage.  

The America the Beautiful initiative involves collaboration and input from state and local governments, landowners, Indigenous peoples, recreation groups, scientists and other community leaders to craft innovative solutions that create a healthier environment and meaningfully address climate change. It is critical we work collectively across the country to save more nature; any skepticism about protecting our air, water, and access to wild places, should be met with science and proven examples of how community-led conservation initiatives are already underway and have overwhelming benefits.  

Over the coming months (and the next 9 years!) our team at The Wilderness Society wants to connect you with partners and the people on the ground who are best positioned to help achieve the nation’s conservation goals, as well as sharing our deep history and knowledge about why we need to conserve more nature, especially in the name of science.  

That’s where we want to start this conversation – science.  

  • Science-based conservation and connecting large landscapes with state/local initiatives is our best shot for building a network of protected nature that benefits all people. When we protect more nature, we’re able to mitigate some of the worst effects of the climate crisis - rising temperatures, public health impacts, food insecurity, and natural disasters like wildfires and flooding.  

  • When we conserve more nature, we’re protecting the systems that support healthy food production for small farmers and landowners, and we’re providing more opportunities for people of all backgrounds to experience the benefit of time in the outdoors.   

One of the most cost-effective strategies for mitigating climate change is to protect more land and water. The 30 x 30 goal sets the biggest targets on large areas of relatively undisturbed nature found throughout our U.S. system of public lands. These areas include extended tracts of forests, mountains, grasslands, deserts, coastal areas and many other kinds of natural systems. We can build on years of conservation progress by connecting these large landscapes to each other through state and local parks, trail systems, riverways, small farms and other working lands.   

A dynamic patchwork of protected areas—safeguarded from harmful development like mining, logging and other extraction or development—will ensure better survival of the web of life, cleaner systems of water and food, and greater community resiliency in the face of extreme weather events.   

While conservation has been part of our country’s DNA, America the Beautiful is the first set of national conservation goals ever established by a President to address these crises. The whole idea is built on a multi-faceted conservation strategy that creates more opportunities for people to guide decision-making about how to protect nature closest to their communities, whether in downtown L.A., or in the middle of rural Colorado.   

Protected public lands like national parks, forests, and wildlife refuges as well as Tribal, state or private lands are a big piece of the puzzle too. These include areas of biodiversity hotspots, like Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and landscapes that are important for carbon sequestration, like Georgia’s Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge or the Tongass National Forest. The restoration and expansion of national monuments, like Bears Ears and Grand Staircase, will also help our nation reach the 30 x 30 target. 

There is no one way to reach our nation’s conservation goals and the path forward resides with community-led conservation efforts -- neighbors sitting with neighbors to figure out how best to protect our natural resources. We want to be helpful in connecting you with those neighbors and locally driven efforts as we move forward. We can be a resource for you as you dig into these stories built on people and wild nature flourishing together.  

Please let me know if there is someone on your team who you think should also receive our updates or is best suited to handle news related to America the Beautiful's 30 x 30 goals and efforts to save more nature.  

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