California Proposition 4
New legislation goes before California voters on November 5 that will help combat the climate crisis and build a more sustainable future for all life in Mojave and Colorado Deserts. California Proposition 4, the Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024, would issue $10 billion in bonds to restore funding to climate adaptation programs while also supporting state and local parks, environmental protection projects, sustainable water and energy infrastructure, and flood and wildfire protection.
The Mojave Desert Land Trust strongly supports the passage of California Proposition 4. This legislation will provide the state and its conservation partners with the tools they need to conduct landscape-scale efforts to preserve biodiversity and adapt California’s varying ecosystems to the new climate reality.
Why a bond?
The COVID-19 pandemic caused lingering financial uncertainty across the United States, including in prosperous California. The 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 State Budgets both planned for deficits that required the Governor and the Legislature to make significant cuts to one-time spending, delay implementation of new programs, and eliminate positions. Natural disasters and winter storms that ravaged the state over the past four years further exacerbated the problem – the state and federal governments’ disaster-relief extension of tax deadlines for the majority of Californians meant that funds have trickled in more slowly to the state’s treasury.
Among the hardest hit sectors for funding reductions and program delays were environmental quality and climate resilience. These cuts impacted the California desert by reducing funding available for wildlife climate adaptation programs, California conservancies, Salton Sea restoration, outdoor education and access, and nature-based solutions to the climate and biodiversity crisis. This diversion of resources comes as the iconic western Joshua tree and the charismatic Mojave desert tortoise face unprecedented threats to their survival from climate change and other human-driven activities.
Key funding programs within Proposition 4 that will benefit the California deserts include:
$870,000,000 for Wildlife Conservation Board grant programs that protect and enhance fish and wildlife habitat. A portion of these funds is specifically dedicated to desert conservation.
$170,000,000 to implement the Salton Sea Management Program that will provide air quality, public health, and habitat benefits. This restores funds clawed back in the state budget.
$45,000,000 in grants for nature and climate education and research facilities, nonprofits, public institutions, and natural history museums to educate the public on climate, species recovery, and/or biodiversity protection.
$320,000,000 for conservancies across California, including $11,000,000 to the Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy.
$180,000,000 for Wildlife Conservation Board funding to establish wildlife crossings and corridors. Wildlife crossings provide vital connectivity for species such as desert bighorn sheep between desert national parks, national monuments, wilderness areas, and state protected lands.