On November 5, California voters will have the chance to vote on the single largest publicly funded climate investment in state history with Proposition 4. Wildfire, wildlife habitat, drinking water, and clean air are all targeted for support.
Proposition 4 allocates $10 billion to help prepare Californians for the impacts of climate change.
- $3.8 Billon—Safe Drinking Water: Water projects, removing toxic pollutants from water supplies, improving dams and other waterway infrastructure, investing in water recycling and conservation, and cost-effectively increasing water supply.
- $1.5 Billion—Wildfire Prevention: Improved response to wildfire and reducing damage, including by forest thinning and increasing controlled ecological burning, or “good fire.”
- $1.2 Billion—Coastal Protection from Sea Level Rise: Restoring beaches, wetlands, and other coastal habitats.
- $1.2 Billion—Nature-Based Solutions to Climate Change: Prevent species extinctions, restore habitats on land and at sea, healthier fisheries.
- $850 Million—Clean Air: Renewable energy and clean air.
- $700 Million—More Parks and Access: Enhancing green spaces, creating more of them, and increasing public access to protected natural lands.
- $450 Million—Extreme Heat Protections: Cooling centers in cities, more trees and their cooling shade in urban areas.
- $300 Million—Climate Smart Food Production: Supporting sustainable agricultural practices on farms and ranches, climate-friendly tech upgrades.
Save Mount Diablo employee Haley Sutton at a recent controlled burn in Mount Diablo State Park, the first controlled burn in the park in 20 years. Controlled burns help prevent catastrophic wildfires, and Proposition 4 would provide $1.4 billion for wildfire prevention, including controlled burns.
Will the Diablo region see any of this money? Absolutely!
In fact, $80 million will be specially dedicated to the greater Diablo Range through the San Andreas Corridor Program, referring to the famous geological fault line that runs through a good part of the Diablo Range.
This money will be used to protect and restore wildlife corridors in our area.
As the climate changes, animals and plants will need to be able to shift their ranges in response to oftentimes hotter, drier conditions. We are working to keep the Diablo Range as a largely naturally intact north-south corridor to make this possible.
The reality of human-caused climate change is clearer and more severe every year.
In 2018, the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history, Camp Fire, burned an area larger than the City of San Francisco, destroyed the town of Paradise, and killed 85 people.
Just six years later, the Park Fire started just a few miles away from Paradise and has grown to become the fourth-largest fire in California history. It has burned more than 429,000 acres, almost 1.5 times the size of the City of Los Angeles.
Extreme heat, drought, and other consequences of emitting carbon pollution into our atmosphere are severe threats to both people in the Diablo region, and the wildlife and natural landscapes we love.
View of the critically important wildlife corridor that connects Mount Diablo to its sustaining Diablo Range.
Just as true as the monumental challenge of climate change–lots of good things for the climate are also happening.
Fast growth of renewable energy and increased urgency to protect our natural carbon sinks in our wetlands, forests, and hills are promising efforts.
Ever-growing acceptance around the world of the fact that humans are the cause, and the solution, to this problem is the start of climate action at the level we need to confront this crisis.
To halt and reverse climate change and the loss of the wildlife and habitats we love, and also to prepare ourselves for the impacts we are bound to face, dedicating more money to actual solutions is essential.
That’s where California’s Proposition 4 comes in, and that’s why we support it.
Save Mount Diablo serves on the Board of the Committee for Clean Water, Natural Resources, and Parks, which has a seat on the official Yes on Prop. 4 campaign.
In addition to our time, input, and assistance we give to the campaign for Proposition 4, we made a financial contribution to the campaign because we believe it is critically important we work on many fronts helping address the climate and biodiversity crises.
