Governor signed a package of conservation bills and announced the largest annual increase in conserved lands in state history, the Office of the Governor said.

The announcement came at the California Natural Resources Agency’s 30×30 Partnership Summit; the office said California counted more than 3.5 million acres conserved since 2022 and added more than 1 million acres in the past year, bringing the state to 27.1% of lands conserved and 21.9% of coastal waters conserved toward the 30×30 goal.

The signed legislation includes measures to block the use of state infrastructure to support new federal offshore oil and gas leases; the office said the measure also requires the State Lands Commission to consider additional factors before approving offshore lease renewals and removes its authority to issue an offshore oil-and-gas lease in a current or future coastal sanctuary.

The package establishes the California Wildlife Coexistence Act to reduce conflicts between people and wildlife; it funds proactive response, tracking, depredation management, animal-welfare and wildlife-health efforts, and continues compensation for verified wolf depredation losses when livestock producers use nonlethal deterrence practices, the office said.

SB 1250 requires Caltrans to publish an inventory of wildlife connectivity assets as a supplement to the Transportation Asset Management Plan and to include connectivity as an objective in the State Highway System Management Plan; the office said those changes are intended to help animals move between habitats and reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions.

SB 1268 codifies the Outdoors for All initiative at the California Natural Resources Agency; the office said the program builds on more than $1 billion in investments to expand parks and nature access with a focus on underserved communities.

AB 1804 makes the State Parks Library Pass program permanent with ongoing budget funding; the office said more than 1,100 public library branches participate and a total of 33,000 passes have been issued to date.

SB 1048 establishes a voluntary State Seal of Climate Literacy so schools can create pathways for students to demonstrate mastery in climate-related disciplines, the office said, and other bills in the package address Joshua tree protections, habitat restoration permitting, invasive species response, and related conservation topics. For full bill text, the office directed readers to the California Legislative Information website.

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Gavin Newsom

Governor · Democrat

Named 2 times in this story.

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