Biden Signs Inflation Reduction Act Affecting Health, Climate and the Economy
Biden Signs Inflation Reduction Act Affecting Health, Climate and the Economy
Biden Signs Inflation Reduction Act Affecting Health, Climate and the Economy. On August 16, President Biden signed a landmark climate change and health care bill into law. The Act includes the most substantial federal investment in history to fight climate change — some $375 billion over the decade, and significant investments in wildfire and forest resilience including:
Wildfire Resilience and Ecosystem Restoration
- $1.8 billion for hazardous fuels reduction projects on National Forest System land within the wildland-urban interface.
- $200 million for vegetation management projects on National Forest System land.
- $250 million for conservation, ecosystem, and habitat restoration projects on National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management lands.
Climate-Smart Forestry for Non-Federal Forest Landowners
- $450 million for grants to support climate mitigation, forest resilience, and carbon sequestration and storage practices.
Urban and Community Forests
- $1.5 billion for competitive grants to cities, tribal nations, nonprofits, and other eligible entities.
Forest Conservation
- $700 million for competitive grants through the Forest Legacy Program.
Forest Products and Innovation
- $100 million for grants under the Wood Innovation Grant Program.
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Sequoia National Forest Restoring Rough Fire Area With Partners
Sequoia National Forest Restoring Rough Fire Area With Partners
Contractors have begun implementing about 1,340 acres of an approximately 4,900-acre restoration project in the footprint of the 2015 Rough Fire affecting the Kings River drainage in Hume Lake Ranger District. The project is a partnership with the Great Basin Institute and American Forests, with funding from CAL FIRE’s Forest Health Program.
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Drill down into more details from the USFS on the Rough Plantation Restoration and Maintenance Project
Jackson Demonstration Forest: A Great Recreation Choice
Jackson Demonstration Forest: A Great Recreation Choice
California’s demonstration state forests serve as a living laboratory for how to care for and manage California’s forest lands for multiple benefits—wood products and timber production, recreation, watershed protection, and habitat restoration—given a changing climate and increasingly severe and intense wildfire seasons. The forests provide unique research and demonstration opportunities where environmental scientists, foresters, and other researchers can study the effects of various forest management and restoration techniques that help inform management practices for government, nonprofit and private forestland owners.
Common activities on state forests include experimental timber harvesting techniques that test the Forest Practice Rules, watershed restoration, mushroom collecting, hunting, firewood gathering, cone collecting for seed, a variety of university research projects, horseback riding, camping, mountain biking, and hiking.
Jackson is the largest of CAL FIRE’s ten demonstration state forests. The area has a long history of logging which began in under private ownership 1862 then evolved into sustainable harvesting after the State’s purchase of the property in 1947. Today, more forest growth occurs each year than is harvested. The most common tree on the forest is coast redwood, but visitors will also find Douglas-fir, grand fir, hemlock, bishop pine, tanoak, alder, madrone and bay myrtle.
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Administration Announces Plans for Reforestation, Climate Adaptation
Biden-Harris Administration Announces Plans for Reforestation, Climate Adaptation, including New Resources from Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
On July 2022, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Forest Service announced a nationwide strategy that will address a reforestation backlog of four million acres on national forests and plant more than one billion trees over the next decade. According to USFS Chief Randy Moore, the reforestation strategy will serve as a framework to understand reforestation needs, develop shared priorities with partners, expand reforestation and nursery capacity, and ensure the trees planted grow to support healthy, resilient forests. In addition to the reforestation strategy, Secretary Vilsack announced 13 new USDA agency climate adaptation plans, which outline how each USDA agency will incorporate climate change into their operations and decisions to support communities, agriculture and forests nationwide.
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CARB releases ambitious draft climate action plan to reach carbon neutrality by 2045
CARB releases ambitious draft climate action plan to slash use of fossil fuels and reach carbon neutrality by 2045
May 10, 2022 –
SACRAMENTO – The California Air Resources Board (CARB) today released a draft plan that, when final, will guide the state’s transition to a clean energy economy, drastically reduce the use of fossil fuels, achieve carbon neutrality by 2045 or sooner, and significantly clean the state’s air especially in disadvantaged communities disproportionately burdened by persistent pollution.
The draft 2022 Climate Change Scoping Plan is the third update to the state’s initial 2008 Scoping Plan. It identifies a technologically feasible, cost-effective and equity-focused path to achieve carbon neutrality over the next two decades while also assessing the progress the State is making towards reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030.
Release of the draft plan triggers a formal 45-day public comment period. During the 45-day public comment period, the Environmental Justice Advisory Committee may provide additional input on the draft plan. The Board will consider the plan in June and may then provide direction to staff, with an additional period of public comment and engagement prior to the second meeting of the Board in the fall to consider adopting a final draft of the plan.
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CNRA Finalizes Key Strategies For Advancing Biodiversity To Address Climate Change
CNRA Finalizes Key Strategies For Advancing Biodiversity To Address Climate Change
April 22, 2022 – Today in conjunction with Earth Day, the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) released two documents:
- The final Natural and Working Lands Climate Smart Strategy to advance California’s commitment to building an equitable, resilient, and carbon-neutral future through climate-focused land management.
- The final Pathways to 30×30: Accelerating Conservation of California’s Nature strategy to support the state’s pledge to conserve 30 percent of California’s lands and coastal waters by 2030 (30×30) to protect biodiversity, advance equitable access to nature and address climate change.
These forward-thinking strategies respond to Governor Newsom’s October 2020, Nature-Based Solutions Executive Order N-82-20, advancing biodiversity conservation as an administration priority and elevating the role of nature in the fight against climate change. As part of this Executive Order, California committed to the goal of conserving 30 percent of our lands and coastal waters by 2030 (30×30).
The two strategies were shaped by months of public engagement. More than 4,100 Californians engaged with the state to provide input through more than a dozen public meetings, regionally based workshops, expert topical panels on key concepts, such as equity and science, and comments on draft strategies.
Natural and Working Lands Climate Smart Strategy
The Natural and Working Lands (NWL) Climate Smart Strategy establishes California’s approach to delivering on our climate change goals through action in the natural and working lands sector. These lands cover 90 percent of California’s 105 million acres.
Healthy landscapes can sequester and store carbon, limit future greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, protect people and nature from the impacts of climate change, and build resilience to future impacts of climate change. Unhealthy landscapes have the opposite effect — they release more greenhouse gases than they store, worsen climate risks to people and nature, and are more vulnerable to future climate change impacts.
Climate smart management of natural and working lands can also deliver on other critical priorities for California, such as improving public health and safety, securing food and water supplies, and increasing equity.
The NWL Climate Smart Strategy defines eight landscape types that California will better manage for climate action, including forests, farms, communities, and wetlands. It highlights priority nature-based climate solutions to address the climate crisis and describes how these solutions can advance California’s broader environmental, economic, and social objectives. The NWL Climate Smart Strategyalso sets priorities for areas of near-term state focus and underscores the essential role of partnerships for successful climate action in this sector.
30×30
The state’s 30×30 initiative is part of an international movement of over 90 countries to protect nature across the planet. Pathways to 30×30 will drive action on biodiversity, access, and climate across California and complements the state’s NWL Climate Smart Strategy and the California Outdoors for All Initiative.
Pathways to 30×30 aims to accelerate the conservation of California’s lands and coastal waters through voluntary, collaborative action with federal and local governments, Native American Tribes, and private landowners. It is a visionary, science-based set of strategies for conservation that contains practical, easily applicable, and accessible steps to achieve the goals outlined in EO N-82-20.
The state estimates that 24 percent of California’s lands and 16 percent of our coastal waters are already conserved. To conserve an additional 6 million acres of land and an additional 500,000 acres of coastal waters by 2030, Pathways to 30×30 includes the following 10 Pathways:
- Accelerate Regionally Led Conservation
- Execute Strategic Land Acquisitions
- Increase Voluntary Conservation Easements
- Enhance Conservation of Existing Public Lands and Coastal Waters
- Institutionalize Advance Mitigation
- Expand and Accelerate Environmental Restoration and Stewardship
- Strengthen Coordination Among Governments
- Align Investments to Maximize Conservation Benefits
- Advance and Promote Complementary Conservation Measures
- Evaluate Conservation Outcomes and Adaptively Manage
CNRA is responsible for overseeing the implementation of Pathways to 30×30, driving near-term strategic actions to advance progress, leveraging public funding, establishing the 30×30 Partnership, and maintaining californianature.ca.gov to inform, empower, and engage conservation champions across the state.
In conjunction with today’s announcement, CNRA also recently released a fully functional version of CA Nature, a publicly accessible suite of interactive mapping and visualization tools. CA Nature compiles statewide biodiversity, access, climate, and conservation information in one place to advance 30×30. This geographic information system (GIS) will support the implementation of 30×30 efforts at the state, regional and local levels. The website will be regularly updated to track and show progress toward meeting the goals outlined in EO 82-N-20.
This year’s Earth Day theme is Invest in Our Planet. Join California in leading the way toward an equitable, resilient, and carbon-free future!
Spanish translation for both strategies will be available soon.
Explore California’s Conserved Lands
Explore California’s Conserved Lands
December 15, 2021 – Today, the California Natural Resource Agency launched the complete version of CA Nature, a website with a suite of interactive mapping and visualization tools. CA Nature compiles statewide information on biodiversity, access, climate, and conservation in one place to advance our conservation and land management efforts. The website will be updated regularly to track and show progress toward our conservation goals.