California governor calls for protecting 30% of state land

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order Wednesday to protect nearly a third of California’s land and coastal waters in his latest effort to fight climate change that he has blamed for recent record-breaking wildfires.

He directed state agencies to pursue actions that will use the state's lands and waters to absorb climate-warming carbon from the atmosphere.

Newsom, who made the announcement in a walnut orchard 25 miles (40 kilometers) outside of Sacramento, said innovative farming practices, restoring wetlands, better forest management, planting more trees and increasing the number of parks are all potential tools.

The goal is part of a larger global effort to protect 30% of the Earth. California is the first state to join 38 countries that have made similar commitments, Newsom said.

“Thirty by 2030 is the mandate,” Newsom said. “California, as the fifth-largest economy in the world, needs to flex its muscles, needs to assert itself, and to advance that cause, not only as it relates to its global impacts but hopefully jump-start similar efforts in other states across this country.”

State Senate Republican leader Shannon Grove of Bakersfield, in the state's vast Central Valley farming region, called the order overly broad and said it could increase the cost of land and might have other unknown impacts on farming and grazing.

The order “will have potentially catastrophic implications to housing and the state’s ability to supply the world’s food," Grove said in a statement.

This is the second major climate change directive from the governor since a string of massive wildfires broke out in mid-August. Fires have burned a record amount of land this year, mostly across Northern California, killed 31 people, destroyed nearly 9,000...