🌅 Today’s stat: 4,543 sq mi

SOURCE

NOAA

WHAT TO KNOW

• Late last year, to relatively little fanfare, the Biden administration granted federal protection to more than 4,500 square miles off the coast of central California, creating what’s now the third largest marine sanctuary in the U.S. and the first led by a Native tribe. The Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary is the result of more than a decade of work by the Northern Chumash Tribe to protect the rugged California coastline that is their historical home.

WHY IT MATTERS

• The sanctuary will bring community and ecosystem-based management to natural, historical, archeological, and cultural resources, including underwater mountains, dense kelp forests, reefs, beaches, and more than 200 government-documented shipwrecks. The designation was part of President Joe Biden’s America the Beautiful Initiative, which supported locally led conservation efforts across the country and set the goal of protecting, conserving, and restoring at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• The sanctuary also leaves room for California’s future offshore wind plans, which will be critical for the state to reach its goal of producing 100% of its energy from carbon-free sources by 2045. Offshore wind is an important part of reducing greenhouse gas emissions because it produces clean electricity in the evening, when the sun sets and solar farms are offline.