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The details about each of these announcements.
 Conservation and pollution reduction
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The Golden State is leading the nation in protecting its natural resources. Through California’s 30×30 initiative, a commitment to conserve 30% of the state’s lands and coastal waters by 2030, California added over 1 million acres of conserved land and waters in a single year. That’s larger than the entire state of Rhode Island.
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Earlier this month, Governor Newsom launched the first conservancy in 15 years at the Salton Sea to support habitat restoration, improve air quality, and deliver lasting benefits to Salton Sea communities. The Salton Sea Conservancy is a major step towards long-term restoration efforts — strengthening stewardship, investment, and public access for the communities around the Salton Sea.
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This month, under Governor Newsom’s leadership, the state restored nearly 300,000 acres of habitat and cut average permitting time to 42 days. The Newsom administration continues to make it faster, easier, and more affordable to launch environmental restoration projects across the state through its Cutting the Green Tape initiative. These actions demonstrate the Governor’s continued commitment to streamlining efforts to restore and protect California’s lands, waters, and wildlife.
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As part of the state’s Build More, Faster – For All infrastructure agenda, Governor Newsom joined the late Wallis Annenberg on Earth Day 2022 for the groundbreaking of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing. The first of its kind in California, this crossing will provide safe passage for wildlife across US 101, reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions and supporting long-term species viability by allowing movement. In February, the Governor announced funding that would provide the final push needed to complete the project.
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This past November, after the federal administration moved to eliminate climate data-gathering satellites, a state satellite project has provided data that has already helped resolve 10 large methane leaks, equivalent to removing about 18,000 cars from California roads for a year.
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Working to reduce harmful emissions across all sources, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) approved updates to its Landfill Methane Regulation (LMR) that will enable quicker detection and repair of methane leaks at landfills, improve monitoring and reporting, and facilitate stronger action for recurring issues. Methane, generated from the breakdown of waste, is a potent greenhouse gas, and landfills are the second-largest source of methane in the state.
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This February, Governor Newsom announced the permanent sealing of all 21 oil wells at the AllenCo site in University Park, ending years of environmental violations that threatened Los Angeles communities. The closure was part of California’s commitment to plug hundreds of dangerous, abandoned oil wells and protect communities from the legacy of irresponsible operators who abandoned their cleanup obligations.
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Continuing efforts to create innovative solutions that will improve air quality and public health, Governor Newsom announced last June the launch of California’s Statewide Mobile Monitoring Initiative (SMMI), a first-of-its-kind program that will use specially equipped vehicles to collect block-by-block air quality data in 64 communities heavily burdened by pollution.
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In August 2025, the Department of Water Resources released an Accountability Action Plan to avoid, minimize, or offset potential impacts caused by construction of the Delta Conveyance Project (DCP), holding the state accountable to the local community in a transparent, trackable, and measurable way. In addition to targeted, strategic communication and support, the plan establishes a $200 million Community Benefits Program for areas near the construction sites. The DCP plays an important part in protecting California’s water supplies against climate change.
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Last June, a new report showed that California’s Cap-and-Invest Program, formerly known as Cap-and-Trade, is funding air protection efforts in 19 communities with some of the state’s highest levels of air pollution.
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Last May, California began the process of restoring shallow water habitats in the Salton Sea as part of the state’s first major habitat restoration project in the region – a key step toward improving local wildlife conditions and suppressing dust to improve air quality for surrounding communities.
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Last May, Governor Newsom announced that the California Department of Fish and Wildlife would upgrade 21 fish hatcheries to boost the state’s salmon and trout populations and protect hatcheries from the impacts of climate change. The project helps build the California salmon and trout supply, which are central to the health of California’s biodiversity and important to indigenous peoples, other communities, and the state’s multimillion-dollar fishing industry.
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Last April, Governor Newsom announced a historic agreement to help return spring-run Chinook salmon and other native fish species to their historic habitats in the Yuba River. This would allow salmon, steelhead, lamprey, and sturgeon, some of the oldest fish lineages on the planet, to access miles of habitat in the Lower Yuba River and North Yuba River not accessible for more than 100 years.
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Governor Newsom celebrated the presence of naturally reproduced coho salmon in the Russian River’s upper basin in Northern California for the first time in over 30 years, building on the statewide recovery strategy to protect our ecosystems.
- Amid Trump’s assault on public lands, California conserved over one million acres of land and coastal waters in just one year, equal in size to Glacier National Park.
- Governor Newsom announced that California would make history as the first American state to join the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Established in 1948, IUCN functions as a global “nature congress” that brings together governments, conservation organizations, and Indigenous peoples with a shared goal to protect nature. By joining IUCN as a subnational government member, California would have the opportunity to directly shape the conversation around global environmental policy.
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Here are 56 of our notable announcements since the last Earth Day (a snapshot of progress, not a complete list): 
