Editorial: Biden should protect more of California’s mountains and deserts as national monuments

California is lucky to have beautiful, diverse and ecologically rich mountains, foothills, coastline and desert, including dozens of national parks and monuments that draw tens of millions of visitors each year.

But with the twin threats of climate change and biodiversity loss reaching crisis levels, it’s not enough. That’s why state legislators took the important step of to conserve at least 30% of the state’s land and coastal waters by 2030. But that’s a challenge because nearly half of California’s land is federally owned.