Sharing Perspectives with Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland
In late January, President Biden issued an Executive Order (14008) on “Tackling Climate Change at Home and Abroad.” Within the order, the President set out a goal of conserving at least 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030.
One of the first steps specified is for the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Secretaries of Agriculture and Commerce, to development a report to the National Climate Task Force on steps to achieve that goal.
Members of the Chesapeake Conservation Partnership’s Steering Committee thought it helpful to reach out to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to highlight the Chesapeake watershed and share some perspectives. They did this through a letter sent last week.
Here are just a few of the points shared in the letter and a more detailed attachment:
- It’s essential to address equity, public health, and environmental justice as core components of the national 30 by 30 strategy.
- The inclusive approach to embracing a multiplicity of conservation goals — as the Partnership has done through the Chesapeake Conservation Atlas — provides strategic advantages and broadly shared benefits.
- Support for private land conservation — a core strength of the Chesapeake watershed — should be a vital part of the mix.
- A refreshed version of the Land & Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) landscape conservation collaboratives would help advance 30 by 30. The Rivers of the Chesapeake LWCF Collaborative coordinated through the Partnership from 2013-2017 generated $35 million in federal land conservation funding.
The Steering Committee wrote “the Chesapeake watershed represents all the major challenges and opportunities for achieving many of the objectives of the President’s Executive Order. But, we also have unique advantages from our deep legacy of successful land conservation and our network of collaborative conservation.” The Chesapeake offers a tremendous opportunity for modeling strategies to meet 30 by 30 in the Eastern US.
Don’t forget to send us your 2020 land conservation success stories as they develop. They’ll land in the new and growing collection at success.chesapeakeconservation.org, a tool we can all use to show collective impact. See the checklist below for easy-to-follow, simple guidelines.