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the rate of a warming climate by retaining carbon in the soil . There are more than 34 million acres of agricultural land in California , and another 45 percent of California ’ s land — including national parks , forests , rangeland and land leased for oil and natural gas production — is owned and managed by the federal government , which will play a key role toward the conservation goal .
Initial strategies to conserve coastal waters will not include an expansion of the state ’ s 124 marine protected areas . However , an expansion or reconfiguration of those areas could take place once a joint-agency , decadal review of the Marine Life Protection Act is completed by the end of 2022 , says Mark Gold , executive director of Ocean Protection Council and deputy secretary for ocean and coastal policy for CNRA . Additionally , Gold says stakeholder engagement will be critical to define what conservation of coastal waters means . That effort could mean greater protections for some of the state ’ s 34 areas of special biological significance in coastal waters , as well as national marine sanctuaries , estuarine research reserves and estuary programs , which could help the state reach 30 by 30 .
An inclusive conversation
As part of Newsom ’ s executive order , he directed the formation of a California Biodiversity Collaborative to solicit feedback from a diversity of voices to determine what will be conserved and how . “ It ’ s working with as many different partners as possible to say , how can we join forces and make sure effective conservation happens ?” Norris says .
The California Biodiversity Council , established in 1991 to align coordination and cooperation between government agencies , is part of the collaborative . While it has not yet been established how the council will function differently than it has in the past , Norris says there ’ s energy and excitement among agencies within the
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council . “( It ) is very explicitly focused on bringing together federal , state and local governments to say , what are the opportunities to join forces ?” she says . “ I think it is identifying their policies , their upcoming opportunities , their priorities within each agency … and seeing where we have common ground and how we can leverage those together , whether it ’ s funding , policy changes or what have you .”
Most recently , the California Biodiversity Network was formalized , bringing together environmental experts and leaders in conservation
across academic , educational , scientific , governmental and tribal communities that will look to unify efforts and projects statewide . “ Those are the real practitioners … that are doing constant biodiversity conservation , in particular diversity research . … ( They ’ re ) less visible but foundational to our success moving forward ,” Norris says .
Beyond inclusion in the California Biodiversity Collaborative , CNRA is formally engaging Native American tribes through government-to-government consultations , which began in January 2021 and will extend through December 2022 , to learn from their unrivaled working knowledge of the natural world and preserve and protect culturally sensitive areas and practices .
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Native Americans were the earliest ecologists who understood how to balance the needs of people with the needs of the Earth . But when European settlers came to California , spurred by the promise of prosperity and wealth , livestock grazing , hunting , the fur trade , and the gold rush decimated the natural world and the Indigenous population and set a precedent for how the state ’ s resources would be used to advance human civilization .
Norris says there ’ s been an incredible amount of interest and requests for conversations since the executive order was signed . In the last six months , she ’ s met with diverse stakeholders including farmers , ranchers , cattlemen , foresters , environmental equity groups , representatives of ports and water interests , people interested in wilderness and roadless areas , environmental education groups , and local and regional parks staff . “ People really see themselves as part of this conservation story and want to engage ,” she says . “ We need to listen to people ( who ) do this every day and understand what those challenges are and how we can work together to really make this successful .”
More than 300 people joined the inaugural virtual workshop in April that focused on the Sacramento Valley . Efforts to make the workshops inclusive included translation in Spanish , Mandarin , Cantonese and Vietnamese , and technical assistance was available for those who don ’ t have internet access but do have a phone . In one of three breakout groups , of those who replied to the real-time survey , government and community-based organizations made up 80 percent of participants , followed by the business industry , then the general public and academia , and less than 1 percent represented tribal governments or communities .
CNRA has reached out to several representatives of underserved communities statewide , including California Environmental Justice Alliance , an Oakland-based statewide
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July 2021 | comstocksmag . com 55 |