President Biden has signed an Executive Order directing the Interior Department to outline steps to achieve the president’s commitment to conserve at least 30% of America’s lands and waters by the year 2030.
The U.S. Geological Survey reports that only 12% of lands are permanently protected and America is losing a football field worth of land in a natural state every 30 seconds. This decline of nature threatens our health, food supplies, biodiversity, and wildlife. Across the globe, approximately one million animal and plant species are at risk of extinction in the coming decades, including one-third of U.S. wildlife.
WildEarth Guardians believes that 30 x 30’s bold vision highlights the need to protect large, unprotected landscapes across the American West, including the great public wildlands of the Greater Gila of southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona. Write your members of Congress today to make sure they know you support the 30 x 30 Initiative.
Photo Credit: Adriel Heisey