Wildlife & Environment News from Councilmember Koretz, Citizens for Los Angeles Wildlife (CLAW) & Hillside Federation

P-22 Day October 24th

The 5th Annual P-22 Day & International Urban Wildlife Festival

A FREE and FUN virtual experience celebrating people and wildlife coexisting across the world. Register now to join us on October 24 for hundreds of exhibits, interactive games, virtual walks & talks, live musical performances, a kids activity area, and a chance to win puma prizes!

Register here

Reprint of message from Councilmember Paul Koretz:

Urging Los Angeles to Join the 30 by 30 Conservation Campaign

Councilmember Koretz was pleased to join Councilmember Ryu in co-introducing legislation seeking to commit the City of Los Angeles to independently joining the international “30 by 30” conservation campaign. Joining the campaign would commit the city to conserving 30 percent of the city’s land for open space and conservation by 2030 in an effort to combat climate change. 

On October 7th, Governor Newsom signed an executive order setting a goal of conserving at least 30 percent of California’s land and coastal waters by 2030, making California the first state to join 38 countries that have made similar commitments.   The Koretz-Ryu motion instructs city departments to report back on the feasibility of Los Angeles independently joining the 30 by 30 conservation campaign and seeks a citywide Resolution in support of any legislative or administrative action that would protect 30 percent of land and waters for open space and conservation. 

“Climate change is an international crisis, and we need to take bold, collaborative action to effectively turn the tides,” Councilmember Ryu said. “The scientific community has made it clear: in order to stop the extinction and climate crises we’re currently experiencing, we need to conserve more of our lands and waters than we currently are. This legislation would set a clear and achievable goal, and one that is a necessary step towards meeting our long term climate goals.”

P-22 Festival in Griffith Park (L to R: Councilmember Ryu, Councilmember Koretz, National Wildlife Federation’s Beth Pratt, and NBC-4 Reporter Robert Kovacik pose with a lifesize photo of P-22 mountain lion), 2019

Councilmember Koretz added, “Seventy years ago, Aldo Leopold called for a new land ethic, a moral responsibility to include in our definition of ‘community’ not only humans but animals, plants, waters and soils. We now face global biodiversity collapse if we do not quickly and actively heed Leopold’s sage advice.  In celebration of P-22 Day this week, the annual festival celebrating our Hollywood Hills mountain lion, I am so pleased to partner with Councilmember Ryu to aim for adding another essential piece to the City’s growing biodiversity tool belt: officially preserving at least 30% of our land for the natural world which sustains us all.”

“We support the efforts of Councilmembers Ryu and Koretz, and Governor Newsom, in this initiative to preserve and enhance our open space and wildlife corridors in Los Angeles,” said Charley Mims, President of the Hillside Federation.  “This is an important step towards protecting our natural habitats and a necessary move forward in our fight against the impacts of climate change.”  

It’s estimated that nationwide, only 14 percent of the land area and 12 percent of the total marine area is currently protected. The scientific community and many international conservation groups have indicated that 30 percent of the planet should be protected by 2030, and 50 percent should be protected by 2050 as a large-scale effort to mitigate the effects of global warming.

Read the motion here.

Run Walk Ride for Wildlife Research 2020

Run, walk or ride whenever and wherever you would like November 1st to November 14th 2020 to raise money for wildlife research in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

More information, click here

For more information on Measure HH, click here.