Action Alert: Act now to help conserve important habitat in California

State threatens to cut funding to the Habitat Conservation Fund, putting sensitive habitats at risk and undermining the 30×30 effort

What is the HCF?

In 1990, voters approved Proposition 117, which most people remember outlawed mountain lion hunting, but that also created the Habitat Conservation Fund (HCF), appropriating $30 million a year for land acquisition and restoration projects to support mountain lion habitat and habitat for other critical species. To date, the HCF has provided funds to protect nearly one million acres of habitat all across California. And nearly 40 years later, the HCF remains the only ongoing, reliable, and flexible source of funds for protecting, enhancing, and restoring wildlife habitat and fisheries that are vital to maintaining California’s quality of life. 

What is Happening?

This week in Sacramento, the Governor and legislature are negotiating the final budget, and on the table there is a plan to sweep $45 million already allocated to the HCF, and language that would eliminate the existing requirement to appropriate $30 million per year to the HCF through 2030. That means that, more than $100 million of funding critical for meeting the state’s 30×30, nature-based solutions to climate change, and wildlife connectivity goals are at stake. Even though California’s state budget deficit is significant, this action directed to HCF is short-sighted and would be an enormous mistake for the Governor and legislature to strip the HCF of critical funding.

The time to act is NOW! Our decisions today shape our future. Invest in conservation and:

Protect our health, environment, and way of life

Preserve irreplaceable landscapes

Maintain California’s climate leadership

We can’t afford to fail! The world watches as California, the 4th largest economy, tackles climate change.

Do not defund the Habitat Conservation Fund!

Fund conservation, keep our promises, and prevent climate catastrophe.

What Can You Do?

Dozens of conservation organizations are pushing back, but we need every Californian that cares to join in.

• Use social media to get the word out! Visit our Facebook page or website and share our post far and wide!
• Contact important government leaders encouraging them not to cut funding to the HCF. Include these three main messages:
  • I strongly oppose defunding $45 million already allocated to the Habitat Conservation Fund. The HCF remains the only ongoing, reliable, and flexible source of funds for protecting, enhancing, and restoring wildlife habitat and fisheries that are vital to maintaining California’s quality of life.
  • I strongly oppose the more than half a billion dollars in cuts to the Wildlife Conservation Board. Instead, I support the Administration’s proposal to use Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund money for the WCB. There are hundreds of millions of dollars of projects waiting at the WCB to be funded that will leverage equal amounts of local, private, and federal funding.
  • The Legislature needs to pass a climate bond now. We are facing growing climate threats and the need is great. This current budget year is hard, next year will be harder, and the following year looks even worse. We need a stable and ongoing funding source to meet our 30×30 and climate goals. A climate bond is our only hope to meet those goals.
• How to contact?
  • https://www.gov.ca.gov/contact/
  • For Alpine, Amador, Calaveras,  El Dorado, Inyo, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Mono, Nevada, Placer, Stanislaus, and Tuolumne, contact Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil using this link https://sd04.senate.ca.gov/contact-us
  • Who from the leadership to contact?
    • Leadership – Pro Tem Mike McGuire and Speaker Robert Rivas
    • Budget Chairs – Senator Scott Wiener and Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel
    • Administration – Governor’s Office, Dept of Finance, CNRA leadership, CDFW leadership, and Wildlife Conservation Board members