30×30 Kick-off Event

• October 27, 2022
• Hayley Paronish

Late in September, the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) hosted the 30×30 Partnership Kick-Off event in Sacramento. It was an inspiring event that brought hundreds of people together including environmental activists, Tribal leadership, and state agency leaders. The goal of the event was to bring together the many people needed to achieve the ambitious goal of protecting 30% of California’s lands and waters by 2030.

The morning was filled with many inspirational speeches from political leaders in the state legislature,  CNRA staff, and Tribal voices. You can view a full recording of the morning that included a message from Governor Gavin Newsom. There was also a good overview of the Pathways document for those who haven’t been able to read it yet. 

There was an exciting announcement of a new Memorandum of Understanding between the California State Parks and the Yurok Tribe. In this document, the partners agreed to take a collaborative approach to the management, preservation, and interpretation of cultural and natural resources within the Yurok Tribe’s ancestral lands in the North Coast Redwoods District. After the morning session, participants received the opportunity to meet with various state agencies, conservancies, and a number of nonprofit organizations. Each table had information about what their respective group was doing as part of the 30×30 effort. One initiative that was especially interesting was the new California Nature website. This is an effort by the State to collect all the relevant data to 30×30 and make it available to the public. We encourage you to explore and dive deeper into the various map layers.

Chris Morrill and André Sanchez of CalWild were able to attend and explore the important avenues CalWild might take to integrate the conservation of federal public lands into 30×30. André also staffed the table hosted by the Power in Nature coalition, which is a group of environmentalists that came together over the last couple of years to shape, strengthen, and guide the development of the 30×30 effort. Power in Nature includes regional groups and has a lot of information on worthy projects. The coalition is looking to continue its work to find good projects and ensure that the State makes good on its 30×30 promise. 

If you couldn’t make it to Sacramento, CNRA is hosting a series of virtual meetings with various agencies including the Coastal Conservancy, California Conservation Corps, and Department of Fish and Wildlife among others. Click here for more information.